Oviposition behaviour of mated or unmated Cleruchoides noackae (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae)

Abstract

Cleruchoides noackae (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), native to Australia, is the most promising biological control agent for Thaumastocoris peregrinus (Hemiptera: Thaumastocoridae), an exotic Eucalyptus spp. pest in Brazil. The aim of this study was to determine the courtship behaviour, mating and oviposition of unmated or mated C. noackae females parasitizing T. peregrinus eggs utilizing the same rearing system used in biological control programmes in Brazil. The mating behaviour of eleven C. noackae unmated couples was observed and the time taken for males and females to find each other in polystyrene vials and the duration and number of copulations were recorded. Ten unmated or mated females were placed individually in vials with 10 T. peregrinus eggs each, and oviposition behaviour, percentage of eggs inserted and parasitized, viability and sex ratio of emerged C. noackae were recorded. This species lacked defined courtship behaviour and mated in less than an hour after adults' emergence. The time spent finding the first host, evaluating and inserting the ovipositor was similar for mated and unmated C. noackae females, as well as the frequency of inserted and parasitized eggs and their viability. Mated females took less time to find other host eggs and the sex ratio is female-biased. Occurrence of arrhenotokous parthenogenesis was confirmed. The ability of C. noackae to mate and lay eggs in less than one hour and parasitism of T. peregrinus eggs by females can improve the parasitoid mass rearing and biological control of T. peregrinus.

Courtship, Mating Behavior, and Ovary Histology of the Nymph Parasitoid Psyllaephagus bliteus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae)

“…These females bend their abdomen dorsally and spread their wings, preparing to copulate ( Romano et al 2016 , 2018 ). Cleruchoides noackae Lin & Huber (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) mated shortly after emergence, without courtship or female receptivity for additional copulations ( Mutitu et al 2013 , Becchi et al 2020 ). Rejection of mating attempts is a common behavior among females, wherein they walk or fly away from the male ( Avila et al 2016 , Romano et al 2016 ), such as that observed for P. bliteus .…”

“…Nevertheless, mating period varies with species, with 2–50 s for Cl. noackae ( Mutitu et al 2013 , Becchi et al 2020 ) and 23.3 s for C. tarsalis ( Cheng et al 2004 ). Furthermore, P. bliteus males court virgin or mated females, similar to Anastatus disparis Ruschka (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) ( Liu and Hao 2019 , Liu et al 2020 ), whereas Co. urabae was attracted only by virgin females ( Avila et al 2016 ).…”

Tea green leafhopper‐induced synomone attracts the egg parasitoids, mymarids to suppress the leafhopper

“…parvula , 18 and even characterized 18 microsatellite markers of S. empoascae 21 . The courtship, mating and oviposition behaviors of another mymarid wasp, Cleruchoides noackae also have been described in detail 22 . A new mymarid species, Anagrus rugmanjonesi Triapitsyn & Adachi‐Hagimori, sp.n., 23 that parasitized eggs of tea green leafhopper Empoasca onukii Matsuda in Japanese tea plantations, also has been described.…”