LIFE-HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF IMMATURE STAGES OF PROCECIDOCHARES-FLAVIPES ALDRICH (DIPTERA, TEPHRITIDAE) ON BRICKELLIA SPP IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Procecidochares flavipes Aldrich is a multivoltine (at least bivoltine ), oligophagous tephritid fly reproducing in flower heads of species o f Brickellia (Eupatorieae: Asteraceae) in California. Unlike all other known species of Procecidochares, P. flavipes is not an obligate gall former; rather, its larvae feed mainly on the ovules and soft achenes as well as on sap. The egg, third instar larva, and puparium are desc ribed and figured; these stages are distinct morphologically from the same stages of other species of Procecidochares studied to date in Cal ifornia. Pupariation occurs in the larval feeding chamber inside a bun dle of scored achenes. Premating and mating behaviors are described. N ewly emerged, sexually immature adults can mate, but then oversummer o r overwinter as aestivating adults, probably in riparian habitats, to await flowering by their alternate host plants. Eurytoma sp. (Eurytomi dae), Pteromalus sp. (Pteromalidae), and Colotrechnus ignotus Burks (E upelmidae) are reported as primary parasitoids of P. flavipes.