Ability of <i>Spalangia endius</i> (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) to Parasitize <i>Bactrocera dorsalis</i> (Diptera: Tephritidae) after Switching Hosts

oleh: Yuan Zheng, Zi-Wei Song, Yu-Ping Zhang, Dun-Song Li

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-07-01

Deskripsi

We studied the parasitism capacity of <i>Spalangia endius</i> as a pupal parasite of <i>Bactocera dorsalis</i> after switching hosts. We used pupae of <i>B. dorsalis</i> and <i>M. domestica</i> as the hosts and studied parasitism by <i>S. endius</i> in the laboratory. The parasitism capacities were compared at different host densities and different parasitoid ages. The two functional responses of <i>S. endius</i> fitted a Holling Type II equation. More <i>M. domestica</i> were parasitized than <i>B. dorsalis</i> at all the densities. The ability of <i>S. endius</i> to control <i>M. domestica</i> was <i>α</i>/<i>T</i><sub>h</sub> (parasitism capacity) = 32.1950, which was much stronger than that of control <i>B. dorsalis</i>, which was <i>α</i>/<i>T</i><sub>h</sub> = 4.7380. The parasitism rate of wasps that had parasitized <i>B. dorsalis</i> had decreased by the emergence time of parasitoids. These results suggest that the parasitoid-pest ratio should be 1:25 to maintain a relatively stable parasitism rate for control of <i>B. dorsalis.</i> The <i>S. endius</i> colony reared on <i>M. domestica</i> successfully controlled a low-density population of <i>B. dorsalis</i> in the lab. We provide evidence suggesting that the parasitism capacity of <i>S. endius</i> needs to be improved.