Abai, MR

6th International Congress of DipterologyEconomic importance of Agricultural Diptera and theircontrol strategiesOhno, K.University of Miyazaki, Faculty of Agriculture, Gakuen-Kibanadai Nishi 1-1, Miyazaki,889-2192, JapanDuring the last few decades, some dipteran insects have expandedtheir distribution and become economically important pests in manynations. For example, the Tephritid fruit flies have become an obstacle tointernational or interregional trade of agricultural products. Therefore,eradicating programs have been implemented in many nations, and throughsterile insect technique (SIT) complemented with other measures partial orcomplete success has been achieved. Agromyzid leaf miners such asLiriomyza spp. have also expanded their distribution as a result of anincreasing international trade of ornamental and vegetable crops. Farmershave had no options but applying many agricultural chemicals against theleaf miner. However, since the leaf miners have developed high resistanceto many agricultural chemicals, biological control has been developed,focusing on commercially mass-reared parasitoid wasps. This leads tointroduction of exotic natural enemies that may affect native fauna andthus, as argued by many authors, in some cases biological control is nolonger ecologically safeIn this lecture, focusing on the current situation of Liriomyza leafminers in Japan, I will discuss the effectiveness of a new biological controlstrategy with naturally occurring parasitoid wasps as an alternative forgreenhouse vegetables. According to literature, many parasitoid waspsattacking the leaf miner have wide host range. Generally it is consideredthat introducing parasitoids with wide host range may cause an adverseeffect on non-target species and thus ecosystems. However, if nativeparasitoid fauna with wide host range are used to suppress the Liriomyzaspp., it makes the biocontrol sound and ecologically safer. In contrast tochemical-based IPM, biocontrol-based IPM will provide us with aneffective and sustainable control strategy. Some of the economically181