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Parasitism, host feeding and immature development of E ncarsia formosa reared from T rialeurodes vaporariorum and B emisia tabaci on T rialeurodes ricini
Author(s) -
Wang X.S.,
Chen Q.Z.,
Zhang S.Z.,
Liu T.X.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of applied entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1439-0418
pISSN - 0931-2048
DOI - 10.1111/jen.12271
Subject(s) - trialeurodes , biology , instar , nymph , parasitoid , parasitism , aphelinidae , botany , host (biology) , whitefly , homoptera , horticulture , biological pest control , larva , pest analysis , ecology
Encarsia formosa Gahan (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), a thelytokous parasitoid, is an important biological control agent of whiteflies because of its outstanding reproduction and host‐feeding ability. In this study, we evaluated the parasitism, host feeding and developmental time of E. formosa populations reared on Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) ( EFT ) or on Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) ( EFB ) when different nymphal instars of the castor whitefly, Trialeurodes ricini (Misra), were offered as hosts, with an aim to understand the preference of the parasitoid on nymphal instars of T. ricini . Experiments were conducted on castor bean plants at 26 ± 2°C, 50–60% RH and 16 : 8 (L : D) photoperiod. The results showed that E. formosa successfully oviposited and fed on all nymphal instars of T. ricini . However, numbers of the first instars fed on by the E. formosa populations reared on T. vaporariorum ( EFT ) and B. tabaci ( EFB ) were significantly greater (45.9 and 31.3, respectively) than those of the second ( EFT : 30.4 and EFB : 15.8), the third ( EFT : 22.4 and EFB : 13.2) and the fourth nymphal instars ( EFT : 6.0 and EFB : 3.8). The number of T. ricini nymphs parasitized by E. formosa varied significantly among different instars, and the parasitism rates on the first instar ( EFT : 15.2; EFB : 7.7) and fourth instar ( EFT : 19.3; EFB : 4.9) were greater than those on the second and third instars. Encarsia formosa reared on T. vaporariorum had a significantly higher host feeding and ovipositing potential on T. ricini than EFB . When parasitizing the fourth instar nymphs, E. formosa completed development in a significantly shorter time (12.9 day) than when ovipositing in other instars (17.8–19.1 day). These results showed that EFT had a better host adaption than EFB . The information from this study should be useful for us to better understand the performance and nymphal preference of E. formosa from T. vaporariorum and B. tabaci when they parasitized and fed on T. ricini , and the interactions of parasitoids with different host whitefly species.