Farmer's Guide To Identify Natural Enemies Of Leafminer

The attack of leafminer flies in the Cordilleras is extremely high especially on vegetable crops like potato, beans, carrot, eggplant, tomato, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, and other leafy vegetables. Oftentimes, natural enemies are neglected and rarely recognized in the field by both technicians and farmers. Occasionally, they are also mistaken as leafminers. Nevertheless, these tiny insects (friendly wasps) occur in great numbers and are able to reduce the leafminer population below damaging levels in pesticide-free fields. Unlike pesticides, these natural enemies are specialists and attack only target pest species and do not pose any environmental and health hazards.

In order to conserve these natural enemies, their identification is a must. However, identification of these natural enemies confuses farmers due to their minute size. With the absence of microscopes and experts, preliminary identification becomes more difficult. At times, these natural enemies are mistaken as harmful insects. Hence, with the aid of this field guide, technicians and farmers will be able to identify seven (7) important natural enemies of leafminer flies by just using the hand lens or magnifying glass.

For more inquiries, contact the following persons:

· MS. JESSAMYN D. RECUENCO-ADORADA, University Extension Specialist I, National Crop Protection Center, UP Los Baños, College, Laguna jdradorada@yahoo.com (Tel. No.: 049-536-2410)
· DR. RAVINDRA C. JOSHI, Senior Research Fellow and Member, PLMTF, Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute, Muñoz Science City, Nueva Ecija joshiravi@hotmail.com / joshiraviph@yahoo.com (Tel. No.: 044-456-0285 local 227)
· DR. ELIZABETH A. VERZOLA, Regional Executive Director and Chair of Potato Leafminer Task Force (PLMTF), Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Unit-Cordillera Administrative Region, Baguio City da_rfu_car@skyinet.net (Tel. No.: 06374-443-4621/4405)
· MR. JOEL L. ADORADA, Agriculturist I, Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry-Los Baños National Crop Research and Development Center, Los Baños, Laguna bpi-eg98@laguna.net (Tel. No.: 049-536-0285)

Acknowledgement:

· Identification of natural enemies; Dr. John LaSalle, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia; Dr. Kasuhiko Konishi, Entomology Laboratory, National Agricultural Research Center for Hokkaido Region, Japan

· Natural enemy collections: Nicasio S. Baucas, Geraldine L. Sacla, Joseph A. Panas, and Staff of Provincial and Municipal Agriculturists in Cordillera Administrative Region

Produced by the funds from DA-RFU-CAR and DA-CHARM Project.

FARMER'S GUIDE
TO IDENTIFY NATURAL ENEMIES OF LEAFMINER
IN THE CORDILLERA ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

Jessamyn D. Recuenco-Adorada
Ravindra C. Joshi
Joel L. Adorada

KEY TO THE LEAFMINER PARASITOIDS (FRIENDLY WASPS) OF THE CORDILLERAS
1.	Wings equal in length; body size small	Asecodes delucchii (Boucek)
	Wings not equal in length; body size medium	2
2.	Antenna long about 23 segments; wings veins branched	Opius sp.
	Antenna short about 5 segments; wings veins not branched	3
3.	Body color black	4
	Body color metallic green	6
4.	Antenna tripectinate (with 3 branching segments) in male	5
	Antenna simple in male	Diglyphus isaea (Walker)
5.	Antenna long, with less hairs; abdomen black	Hemiptarsenus varicornis (Girault)
	Antenna short and hairy; abdomen light brown	Pnigalio katonis (Ishii)
6.	Wings wider than long	Neochrysochalis formosa (Westwood)
	Wings longer than wide	N. okazakii Kamijo