Abstract
During 1997 a study about natural parasitism on the different biological stages of the fruit borer of solanaceae Neoleucinodes elegantalis Guenée (Lep: Pyralidae) was carried out. Eggs, worms and pupae in crops of Solanum quitoense Lamark (lulo), Ciphomandra betacea Sent (tomate de árbol) and Lycopersicum esculentum Mill (tomate de mesa), were collected in the departments of Cauca and Valle del Cauca. The results suggest that eggs, larvae and pupae of the fruit borer insect have a great variety of natural control. Trichogramma exiguum and T. pretiosum (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) were detected parasiting eggs (4.2 and 54%). The species Copidosoma sp. (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) was detected parasiting worms with 16.6 to 60%. Lixophaga sp. (Diptera: Tachinidae) was also observed parasiting worms in the last instar with 0.8 to 22% of parasitism. Different parasites such as Brachymeria sp., Conura sp. (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae), Aprostocetus sp. (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and 3 Hymenopteros of Ichneumonidae emerged from N. elegantalis pupae. Parasitism on pupae reached 18%, 4.7%, 25% and 20%, respectively.
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