Identificação da ocorrência das espécies parasitoides do Sitophilus zeamais em grãos de milho.

Abstract

Sitophilus zeamais, is considered a primary pest of corn in Brazil, its attack results in phytosanitary problems generating economic losses arising from the decrease in productivity. The use of biological control with parasitoids is an alternative to this problem, where a natural enemy is used to regulate the number of insect pests. Thus, the objective was to record the occurrence and identification of parasitoids of S. zeamais in the cities of Nossa Senhora da Glória-SE, Poço Redondo-SE, Paripiranga-BA (Northeast region) and Botucatu-SP (Southeast region). Corn samples infested with weevils were collected in stored sheds and taken to the laboratory for daily analysis of parasitoid emergence and later identification was made through morphology. Three Pteromalidae wasps were identified: Theocolax elegans, which develops in external parts of its host and only one individual, survives in the attacked organism; Lariophagus distinguendus, which specializes in late larval, prepupal, and pupal host stages; and Anisopteromalus calandrae, which has a cosmopolitan character and is an idiobiont ectoparasitoid. In this way, it was possible to register the presence and identify parasitoids in the Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil acting on Sitophilus zeamais in corn grains.