Quantitative Host Emergence Links to Fopius (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) Parasitoid Recruitment and Scale‐Dependent Conditional Insect Associations in Tropical Citrus Orchards

ABSTRACT Fruit‐associated insect communities in tropical citrus orchards are spatially heterogeneous; however, fine‐scale ecological relationships among tephritid emergence, parasitoid recruitment and associated insect guilds remain poorly resolved. This study quantified spatiotemporal variation and conditional co‐occurrence networks among insect assemblages across nine commercial citrus orchards in East Java, Indonesia. Using a longitudinal repeated‐measures design, one symptomatic fruit and five flowers were sampled or inspected monthly from 81 trees per orchard over three consecutive months ( n = 2187 tree‐by‐sampling units). Fruit rearing yielded two tephritids ( Bactrocera dorsalis and Bactrocera carambolae ), drosophilids conservatively reported as Drosophila sp., and opiine parasitoids reported as Fopius sp., whereas floral observations quantified flower‐associated thrips collectively. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) controlled for orchard location, sampling period and repeated observations within trees. From 5236 recorded insects, total Drosophila was the most abundant group, whereas B. dorsalis dominated the tephritids. Insect abundance and occurrence varied strongly among orchards, whereas temporal fluctuations were taxon specific. Each additional adult Bactrocera emerging per fruit increased the odds of total Fopius occurrence by 16.8% (OR = 1.168, 95% CI = 1.026–1.329, p = 0.019), demonstrating a quantitative host‐emergence–parasitoid recruitment relationship. The apparent parasitoid emergence ratio averaged 10.5%, showing spatial variation but no consistent temporal shift across the three sampling months. Conditional analyses revealed scale‐dependent associations: Bactrocera ‐positive fruits had 2.66 times higher odds of producing drosophilids, and flower‐associated thrips were positively associated with fruit‐infesting Bactrocera at the tree level. In contrast, B. carambolae showed significant conditional segregation from B. dorsalis within fruits. Orchard‐level environmental and management predictors were not statistically significant. These findings reveal non‐random insect associations operating primarily at fruit and tree scales.