Tachinid (Diptera: Tachinidae) parasitoids of the lucerne beetle, Gonioctena fornicata (Brüggemann, 1873) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), with a new parasitoid record and their parasitism rates

The lucerne beetle, Gonioctena fornicata (Brüggemann, 1873) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a serious pest of lucerne. In this study, tachinid (Diptera: Tachinidae) parasitoids of G. fornicata, and their parasitism rates were investigated at one location in Tokat Province, Turkey during 2016 and 2017. For this purpose, the lucerne beetle larvae were collected from an lucerne field and reared in the laboratory. Two tachinid species were obtained from the reared larvae. The species were Meigenia mutabilis (Fallén, 1810) and Macquartia tenebricosa (Meigen, 1824) (Diptera: Tachinidae). Macquartia tenebricosa was recorded first time as parasitoid of G. fornicata. The number and sex of the emerged parasitoids were recorded daily. The parasitism rates were 3.61% and 1.07% during 2016, and 3.69% and 0.50% in 2017, for M. mutabilis and M. tenebricosa, respectively. Based on these data, it was concluded that M. mutabilis is more effective parasitoid of G. fornicata. This paper reports for the first time detailed information on the natural enemies of G. fornicata and their effectiveness both on Turkey and worldwide