The present paper reports data on the biology of eleven species of tachinid flies collected in Italy and Spain on different host plants and emerged from different host larvae. An annotated list of the eleven species emerged from the collected lepidopterans is provided; information about distribution and biology are given as well as the description of their puparia. Two new parasitoid species of the European Grapevine Moth (EGVM) Lobesia botrana were recorded: Clemelis massilia, whose host preferences were unknown so far, and Neoplectops pomonellae. A list of lepidopteran pest species with their associated plants and tachinid parasitoids is then given in order to highlight the relationships among the three components of the biocenosis (plant, herbivore and parasitoid). Eventually, due to the great economic importance of L. botrana in viticulture, a preliminary identification key to the puparia of its tachinid parasitoids is provided.
Keywords: Erebidae; Cacoecimorpha pronubana; Daphne gnidium; Ephestia unicolorella subsp. woodiella; Euproctis chrysorrhoea; Quercus spp.; Tortrix viridana; Vitis vinifera; biological control; puparia.
Pier Luigi Scaramozzino, Filippo Di Giovanni, Augusto Loni, Silvia Gisondi, Andrea Lucchi, Pierfilippo Cerretti.