BioControl (2020) 65, 37-46

C. Londoño-Sánchez, J. Montoya-Lerma, J.P. Michaud and G. Vargas (2020)
The gregarious parasitoid Cotesia flavipes displays a high level of preadaptation to a novel host, Diatraea indigenella
BioControl 65 (1), 37-46
Abstract: Cotesia flavipes Cameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is often augmented against Diatraea spp. (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) stem borers in the Americas. Diatraea indigenella Dyar and Heinrich, an endemic pest of sugarcane in southern Colombia, represents a novel host for C. flavipes. We examined the development of C. flavipes on D. indigenella and D. saccharalis, a familiar host, when larvae were stung by one, two or three wasps. Host species had no effect on parasitism success, immature parasitoid mortality, parasitoid developmental time, adult emergence, or female size. Superparasitized D. indigenella hosts yielded more cocoons, more adults, and more female wasps than those parasitized with a single sting, or from D. saccharalis hosts. However, wasp survival and longevity declined when host larvae were stung three times. Thus, D. indigenella was a more suitable host for C. flavipes when superparasitized, and appears suitable for augmentation against this emergent pest and other Diatraea species attacking sugarcane.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): James Montoya-Lerma, J.P. Michaud

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Diatraea indigenella	Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum)	Colombia
Cotesia flavipes (parasitoid)	Diatraea indigenella		Colombia