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The influence of host plant species on parasitism of pollen beetles ( Meligethes spp.) by Phradis morionellus
Author(s) -
Billqvist Andreas,
Ekbom Barbara
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
entomologia experimentalis et applicata
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.765
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1570-7458
pISSN - 0013-8703
DOI - 10.1046/j.1570-7458.2001.00755.x
Subject(s) - biology , parasitism , ichneumonidae , parasitoid , braconidae , botany , hymenoptera , host (biology) , interspecific competition , pollen , sinapis , brassica , ecology
Field experiments were conducted at Ultuna in central Sweden in order to determine if parasitism of pollen beetle larvae ( Meligethes aeneus Fabr. and Meligethes viridescens Fabr. (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae)), by Phradis morionellus Holmgr. (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) differed between the host plants spring rape, Brassica napus L., and white mustard, Sinapis alba L. Parasitism by P. morionellus varied between 25% and 53%. There was no consistent difference between proportion parasitism on the two host plant species among the four studied fields. There was a significantly higher risk of parasitization on S. alba than on B. napus in two fields. The opposite occurred in a third field and in a fourth field no difference between parasitism on plant species was found. Density of host larvae affected parasitization by P. morionellus on B. napus , with lower parasitism at higher pollen beetle densities. The next most common parasitoid species, after P. morionellus , encountered on pollen beetle larvae was Diospilus capito Nees (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). The level of total parasitism by these two species was between 31% and 66%. Interspecific competition of P. morionellus with D. capito through multiparasitism was independent of both field location and plant species. The level of multiparasitism was, in all cases, less than 6.3%.