Phytoparasitica (2005) 33, 441-449
Erdal Sertkaya and Ahmet Bayram (2005)
Parasitoid community of the Loreyi leafworm Mythimna (Acantholeucania) loreyi: Novel host-parasitoid associations and their efficiency in the eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey
Phytoparasitica 33 (5), 441-449
Abstract: The loreyi leaf worm, Mythimna (Acantholeucania) loreyi Duponchel (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), is a pest of gramineous crops and causes significant economic damage to maize. In field surveys on maize to determine the parasitoid community and its impact on the pest in the eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey, nine parasitoid species were found associated with immature stages of M. loreyi: The hymenopteran (Braconidae and Ichneumonidae) parasitoids Cotesia (=Apanteles) ruficrus (Haliday), Chelonus oculator Panzer, Meteorus ictericus Nees, Hyposoter didymator (Thunberg), Sinophorus sp.; and the dipteran (Tachinidae) parasitoids Pseudogonia rufifrons Wiedeman, Exorista rossica Mesnil, Gonia picea (Robineau-Desvoidy) and Linnaemya vulpina (Fallen) - the last three recorded for the first time as parasitoids of M. loreyi in Turkey. C. ruficrus was the dominant parasitoid species, being recovered from 38.5% of the larvae collected and was also the most prevalent species, existing in 91.0% of the fields in which M. loreyi was found. Total parasitism levels achieved by braconid species was 41.4%, by ichneumonid parasitoids 4.8%, and by tachinid parasitoids 1.9%. In a separate field experiment, seasonal population fluctuations and natural efficiency of C. ruficrus on M. loreyi were found to be 35.1% and 42.4%, respectively. Population levels of C. ruficrus were closely related to fluctuations in the population of M. loreyi, with parasitism ranging between 0 and 77.3% during the study.
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Erdal Sertkaya, Ahmet Bayram
Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
surveys/distribution/isolation
