Biological Control of Spotted-Wing Drosophila: An Update on Promising Agents

Following the global invasion of Drosophila suzukii (spotted-wing drosophila or SWD), nearly 100 studies have explored biological control of this pest. In 2019, a review summarized 75+ papers covering 57 species of SWD parasitoids, predators, competitors, and pathogens and identified the most promising ones. This review provides an update with recent studies. Since parasitoids are promising natural enemies that can be host-specific and self-disperse, this chapter focuses on SWD parasitoids in its invaded and native ranges, and prospects for classical biological control. To date, six species have been confirmed to attack SWD in the invaded regions including three widely studied generalist pupal parasitoids, Pachycrepoideus vindemiae, Trichopria drosophilae, and T. anastrephae. No locally occurring larval drosophila parasitoids can develop from SWD. In contrast, foreign explorations in China, Japan, and South Korea have revealed 19 species of SWD larval parasitoids. Asobara japonica, Ganaspis brasiliensis, and Leptopilina japonica spp. japonica have been evaluated. Ganaspis brasiliensis is a complex of cryptic species/strains with varying host specificity, some which also occur in regions outside of Asia, but one East Asian strain was found to be the most host-specific to SWD and is currently being petitioned for introduction into North America and Europe.