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Effect of fertilized, unfertilized, and UV ‐irradiated hosts on parasitism and suitability for T richogramma parasitoids
Author(s) -
Xu Jing,
Yang Xiangbing,
Lin Ying,
Zang LianSheng,
Tian ChunYu,
Ruan ChangChun
Publication year - 2016
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 - 10.1111/eea.12485
Subject(s) - biology , parasitism , host (biology) , parasitoid , pest analysis , hymenoptera , biological pest control , botany , horticulture , zoology , ecology
T richogramma spp. ( H ymenoptera: T richogrammatidae) parasitoids have been commonly used as biological control agents in insect pest management. Host quality is believed to influence parasitism, host preference, and suitability for parasitoids. To date, limited studies have compared the parasitism of T richogramma parasitoids on fertilized, unfertilized, and sterilized host eggs. Hence, we studied the performance of three T richogramma egg parasitoids, T richogramma japonicum A shmead, T richogramma chilonis I shii, and T richogramma leucaniae P ang & C hen, on fertilized, unfertilized, and ultraviolet ( UV )‐irradiated fertilized ( UVF ) eggs of rice moth, C orcyra cephalonica ( S tainton) ( L epidoptera: P yralidae). In a no‐choice test, T . japonicum and T . leucaniae parasitized significantly more fertilized or UVF than unfertilized hosts, and T . chilonis parasitized significantly more UVF than either fertilized or unfertilized hosts. In a choice test, all three T richogramma parasitoids parasitized UVF hosts the most, and unfertilized hosts the least. There were similar percentages of adult emergence and female progeny among fertilized, unfertilized, and UVF hosts for all three T richogramma parasitoids, except that T . japonicum had significantly lower adult emergence on fertilized hosts. We also found that all three T richogramma parasitoids developed slower on unfertilized hosts. Regardless of host treatments, T . leucaniae had the longest developmental time and T . chilonis had the shortest. We conclude that T richogramma parasitoids prefer parasitizing UVF eggs of C . cephalonica without negative effects on their emergence and sex allocation.