Horn fly is the main pest in cattle in tropical and subtropical zones in Mexico where the populations are 100-2500 fly/cow.
During the last years the seasonal presence of the pest was a permanent problem. The state of Tamaulipas has 1'100,000 cow potential host of the horn fly, Haematobia irritans(L.)
The control of this fly in Tamaulipas is always with insecticides. However, apparently there resistance to piretroid insecticides and other products. So it’s better to use other control methods to diminish the fly populations using specialty biological control.
Tamaulipas is the main state where there are cattle ranches in northeastern Mexico. The objective of the present study was to know the population fluctuation of the horn fly and to know its parasitoids. There were higher populations of the fly in the period of August through early November, but the main parasitism was observed in October. At the beginning of November six species of parasitoids wasps were obtained from the families Pteromalidae (Spalangia drosophilae Ashmead, Spalangia nigroaenea Curtis Spalangia haematobiae Ashmead and Erotolepsia sp.) Eucoilidae (Tribliographa sp.) and Diapriidae ( Trichopria haematobiae Ashmead).
Species 1: Diptera Muscidae Haematobia irritans (Horn Fly, Mosca de la paleta)
Keywords: parasitoid
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