GELIFES Seminars - Maria Luisa Dindo

Link to seminar

Maria Luisa Dindo (University of Bologna, Italy)

Biology of fly parasitoids and their relevance for biological control

Most parasitoids are included in Hymenoptera Parasitica, which have served as a model for nearly all research on parasitoidism. Non-hymenopteran parasitoids share similarities with Parasitica, but also show notable differences in biology and behaviour. Among these, fly parasitoids (mainly Tachinidae) constitute the most important group, but their importance is often underestimated, particularly in applied biological control. This oversight is partially attributed to the relatively low number of studies dealing with their biology and potential to control target insect pests. This seminar focuses on the biological characteristics of tachinids (i.e., oviposition strategies, respiration of the larvae, host-parasitoid interactions) also based on observations made by rearing some species on artificial media. Additionally, examples illustrating the use of these beneficial insects in classical and augmentative biological control will be provided. The objective is to shed light on this group of parasitoids and encourage research on their biology and the possibility of exploiting them in applied biological control.