Influence of the host diet on the performance of Doryctobracon areolatus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Abstract

Fitness in parasitoids is generally influenced by host quality. We evaluated the development parameters of Doryctobracon areolatus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) parasitoid on Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera: Tephritidae) larvae, reared in artificial diets with different protein sources. Larvae of A. fraterculus were reared in the diets based on 1) raw wheat germ (control); 2) whole rice flour; 3) corn flour; and, 4) whole wheat flour + soybean meal. The larvae were used for the development of D. areolatus, to evaluate the number of offspring/female, emergence rate, sex ratio, egg-adult period, adult weight posterior tibia length and longevity. Larvae of A. fraterculus reared in the diets based on wheat germ and corn flour obtained a greater number of offspring, with shorter duration of egg-adult period for males and females. In diets with rice flour and corn flour, A. fraterculus larvae generated adults of D. areolatus with greater weight, longer tibia length and higher sex ratio, whereas larvae reared in wheat flour + soybean meal diet had a lower sex ratio. The diets based on rice flour and corn are the most appropriate for multiplication of the parasitoid.

Improvement of the Mass-Rearing Protocols for the South American Fruit Fly for Application of the Sterile Insect Technique

“…Carrageenan is a gelling agent that can be used in diets for dipterans [ 33 ]. Corn flour has relevant texturizing qualities, is low-cost, readily available, and was used successfully to replace wheat germ in a larval diet for A. fraterculus [ 34 ].…”

Parasitism rate of Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) larvae in greenhouse by Tetrastichus howardi (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) females at different densities

“…The natural biological control is an alternative with reports of parasitoid and predator species on P. xylostella in Brassicaceae crops (Karindah et al, 2005;Dancau et al, 2019). In biological control programs which use parasitoid insects, hymenoptera stand out for their wide diversity (Silva et al, 2020) Using mass breeding techniques, evaluating their biological parameters and the release of these parasitoids (Barbosa et al, 2019;Ongaratto et al, 2020).…”

The sex ratio of the koinobiont parasitoid Microcharops anticarsiae Gupta remains female-biased on young larvae of velvetbean in the laboratory environment

“…The sex ratio is a critical factor to the mitigation of costs with the culture of this parasitoid, as well as an important attribute of biological control agents (Pandey, Kumar, & Tripathi, 2004). According to the literature, the sex ratio of Hymenopteran is influenced by factors such as diet (Ongaratto et al, 2019), instar (Poncio et al, 2018;Chu et al, 2014), superparasitism (Alvarenga, Dias, Stuhl, & Sivinski, 2015) and size/age of the host (Van Nieuwenhove & Ovruski, 2011;Ueno, 2015). Also, chemical cues are associated with the host characteristics, such as feces (Faraone, Svensson, & Anderbrant, 2017) and its ability to feed on different host plants (Morawo & Fadamiro, 2019).…”