Monitoring for parasitoids of spotted wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) in Virginia fruit crops

We sampled for parasitoids of drosophilids in Virginia small fruit systems using sentinel traps pre-infested with Drosophila larvae. Sampling occurred from early June through mid-October 2014 in cherry, caneberry, blueberry, and wine grape crops. Sentinel traps were pre-infested with larvae of either Drosophila suzukii or D. melanogaster in the laboratory, or left with no larvae as a control. After 3-7 d, traps were collected and larvae were reared in the laboratory. Three hymenopteran parasitoid species, representing families Braconidae, Figitidae, and Pteromalidae, were reared in comparatively small numbers from larvae of some of the sentinel traps. However, none of the parasitoids were reared from D. suzukii larvae, and the majority of traps did not yield any parasitoids. These results provide baseline information to support future research into biological control of the invasive pest, D. suzukii.