Parasitoids of Fruit-Infesting Tephritidae

Tetrastichus giffardii Silvestri, 1913: 205-206.

See also the Tetrastichus and Eulophidae pages.

Synonym: Tetrastichus dacicida Silvestri, 1915 (LaSalle and Wharton 2002).

This species was reared by Silvestri (1914) from many hosts and initially from four different countries in West Africa. Silvestri also noted that it oviposited in the host egg or first instar larva (Silvestri 1913, Silvestri 1914). However, more recent rearings in Kenya by Samira Mohamed (Mohamed et al. 2006) indicate that oviposition is preferentially in later instar larvae. This species was recorded from tephritids infesting coffee in Uganda (Greathead 1972) and Kenya (Wharton et al. 2000).