Developing Methods for Testing Host Specificity of Phymastichus coffea LaSalle (Hym.: Tetrastichinae), a Potential Biological Control Agent of Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari) (Col.: Scolytidae) in Colombia

In line with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Code of Conduct for the import and release of biological control agents, and taking into consideration the recommendations in the draft IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Guidelines for the Prevention of Biodiversity Loss Due to Biological Invasion, a procedure was developed to assess the host range of Phymastichus coffea, an endoparasitoid of coffee berry borer; Hypothenemus hampei. Host specificity was tested by exposing a Kenyan biotype of P. coffea to a selection of Scolytidae under quarantine conditions. The results demonstrated that P. coffea can be considered as oligophagous, attacking and developing on other species of the genus of the target borer. In no-choice tests, three species, H. obscurus, H. seriatus and Araptus sp. yielded parasitism. The risk of attack to potential alternative hosts if P. coffea were to be released as a potential biological control agent of coffee berry borer in Colombia is discussed. A quarantine procedure was developed for the importation of P. coffea to Colombia to deal with specific problems of hyperparasitoids and fungal contamination.