The larvae of the obliquebanded leafroller, Choristoneura rosaceana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), a serious pest in Western New York apple orchards, is host to a number of parasitoids in the dipteran family Tachinidae. The goals of this research are to identify the major tachinid parasitoids and to determine the rate of parasitism on the obliquebanded leafroller larvae due to tachinid attack. Research is being conducted in three experimental orchards in Geneva, New York in 2001 and 2002. Three species of tachinids attacking obliquebanded leafroller have been identified, Actia interrupta (Curran), Nilea erecta (Coquillett) and Hemisturmia parva (Bigot). In addition, preliminary results show that parasitism rates by tachinids are significantly lower than those by hymenopteran parasitoids and vary greatly through the growing season.
Species 1: Diptera Tachinidae Actia interrupta
Species 2: Lepidoptera Tortricidae Choristoneura rosaceana (obliquebanded leafroller)
Species 3: Diptera Tachinidae Hemisturmia parva
Keywords: biological control, flies
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