A Comparative Study of Four Housefly Parasites (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea)

Abstract

This study was initiated when four species of parasites (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) were released in New Zealand by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, to assist the biological control of the housefly, Musca domestica and other synanthropic (i e. species associated with man) files. They were sent to New Zealand by the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control at Curepe, Trinidad, where a programme of fly-parasite rearing has been operating over a number of years. The parasites arrived in five shipments between January and June 1969 and were cultured and released by the D.S.I.R. throughout the Auckland and Northland region between January and September 1969. The following summer (1969-70) releases were made at selected sites throughout the North and South Island and sites in Rarotonga, Western Samoa, and the Tokelau Islands.