Environmental Entomology (1999) 28, 729-734

Patrick L. Mathews and Frederick M. Stephen (1999)
Effects of an artificial diet and varied environmental conditions on longevity of Coeloides pissodis (Hymenoptera : Braconidae), a parasitoid of Dendroctonus frontalis (Coleoptera : Scolytidae)
Environmental Entomology 28 (4), 729-734
Abstract: Previous work with parasitoids of the southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann, indicated that artificial diet could increase parasitoid longevity under constant, climatically moderate laboratory conditions. This study investigates the impact of the same artificial diet on parasitoid longevity under more extreme climatic conditions in an effort to determine longevity under conditions approximating those in southern pine forests. Coeloides pissodis (Ashmead), a common parasitoid of D. frontalis, was reared from field-collected D. frontalis-infested pine bark and used to test the effects of the artificial diet on adult longevity under 6 temperature-humidity settings. Parasitoid adults were provided with water only, or water plus diet and placed in environmental chambers set to 18, 24, or 30°C and either high (80%) or low (30%) relative humidity, and longevity was recorded and compared. Across all treatments, relative humidity appeared to have a greater impact on longevity than temperature or availability of diet, although diet significantly increased longevity under high humidity conditions.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): Fred M. Stephen

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
environment/habitat manipulation
rearing/culturing/mass production

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Dendroctonus frontalis
Coeloides pissodis (parasitoid)	Dendroctonus frontalis