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Life history of Spalangia gemina Boucek (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), a fast‐breeding microhymenopteran pupal parasitoid of muscoid flies
Author(s) -
MORGAN PHILIP B.,
BERTIFILHO EVONEO,
COSTA VALMIR A.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
medical and veterinary entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2915
pISSN - 0269-283X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2915.1991.tb00553.x
Subject(s) - pteromalidae , biology , parasitoid , hymenoptera , pupa , zoology , ecology , larva
. Laboratory studies at 25.5 o C and 70–75% r.h. demonstrated that the average daily survival rate for females of the parasitoid Spalangia gemina Boucek (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) was 0.907 over a 20‐day period, with 50% mortality in 17.3 days. Mean immature developmental time of S. gemina was 22 days and the population growth rate was c. 40‐fold per generation. The females successfully parasitized 1‐, 2‐ and 3‐day‐old pupae of Musca domestica L. and parasitism of 98–100% was obtained at parasitoid to host ratios of 1:0.5‐2.5. Parasitism of 81–87% was obtained at parasitoid to host ratios of 1:10. The male to female sex ratio was 1:1.59. S.gemina appears to have advantages over other Spalangia spp., which have immature development times of 28–32 days under comparable conditions, for the biological control of Muscidae.