Premium
Is the parasitization capacity of Trichogramma cordubensis influenced by the age of the females?
Author(s) -
Garcia Patrícia Ventura,
Wajnberg Eric,
Oliveira Maria Luísa Melo,
Tavares João
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.1570-7458.2001.00777.x
Subject(s) - trichogrammatidae , biology , parasitism , pyralidae , lepidoptera genitalia , trichogramma , parasitoid , hymenoptera , zoology , botany , toxicology , ecology , host (biology)
We investigated the parasitization capacity of Trichogramma cordubensis Vargas & Cabello (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) females aged 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 96 h, 120 h, and 144 h, using Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) eggs as hosts. Wasps were held without hosts during the period of ageing, therefore being increasingly time‐limited with respect to parasitization as they got older. The total number of parasitized hosts decreased as the age of the parasitoid increased. However, the proportion of lifetime parasitism carried out on the first day increased with wasp age, up to 120‐h old females. These results show that the parasitization capacity of ageing T. cordubensis females changes as they become time‐limited. The consequences of such changes for biological control programs are discussed.