Biocontrol Science and Technology (2017) 27, 796-808

Hilal Tunca, Etty-Ambre Colombel, Marine Venard and Elisabeth Tabone (2017)
Incidence of superparasitism in the egg parasitoid, Ooencyrtus kuvanae Howard (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae)
Biocontrol Science and Technology 27 (6), 796-808
Abstract: The encyrtid Ooencyrtus kuvanae is a solitary parasitoid of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar L. (Lepidoptera-Lymantridae) that is used in biological control programmes and whose mass rearing is influenced by superparasitism. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the self-superparasitism of O. kuvanae at different host densities (5, 10, 15 and 20), female ages (3 and 5 days) and durations of exposure (1 and 5 days) under various laboratory conditions (25°C ± 1°C, RH 60 ± 5% and a 16:8 h light:dark photoperiod) as well as in a new laboratory host, Philosamia ricini (Danovan) (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) of O. kuvanae. In this study, we determined the rate of egg superparasitism and adult emergence and recorded development time, longevity and body weight. Superparasitism increased with female age and the duration of exposure to parasitoids when females had access to five host eggs. Superparasitism increased the number of parasitoid offspring, but it resulted in male-biased (56.90%) progeny. Furthermore, superparasitism caused deleterious effects to the fitness of the progeny by prolonging the developmental process, and decreasing longevity. For example, we found that when four adults can emerge from one superparasitised host egg, the body size of the parasitoid offspring decreases significantly. Hence, superparasitism should be avoided when mass rearing O. kuvanae.
(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): Elisabeth Tabone

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.
Ooencyrtus kuvanae (parasitoid)