Florida Entomologist (2020) 103, 316-320

Samir Oliveira Kassab, Marcelo Sousa Barbosa, Fabricio Fagundes Pereira, Camila Rossoni, Patrik Luiz Pastori, Jéssica Terilli Lucchetta, Mariana Santana Guerra and José Cola Zanuncio (2020)
Reproductive potential and biological characteristics of the parasitoid Cotesia flavipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in Diatraea saccharalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) depending on parasitoid-host ratio
Florida Entomologist 103 (3), 316-320
Abstract: This study assessed the biological characteristics of Cotesia flavipes (Cameron) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) with different densities of female parasitoids with Diatraea saccharalis (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) caterpillars. Third instar caterpillars of D. saccharalis were exposed to C. flavipes females at parasitoid to host ratios of 1:1, 3:1, 6:1, 9:1, and 12:1, with 5 replications. The parasitism of C. flavipes was 90% at 3:1 ratio, and the emergence was 100% for all densities. The life cycle of C. flavipes ranged from 18.17 ± 0.26 to 18.93 ± 0.50 d with the densities of 12:1 and 1:1 parasitoid to host. The higher progeny of C. flavipes (87.38 ± 2.07 and 67.18 ± 2.57 individuals per D. saccharalis caterpillar) were obtained at the densities of 3:1 and 6:1, respectively. The sex ratio of parasitoid per D. saccharalis caterpillar ranged from 0.12 ± 0.05 to 0.66 ± 0.02 between the parasitoid to host densities of 12:1 and 3:1, respectively. The density of 3:1 C. flavipes females per D. saccharalis caterpillar was found to be optimal for propagation of the parasitoid.
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Database assignments for author(s): Fabricio F. Pereira, Camila Rossoni, José Cola Zanuncio

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

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Diatraea saccharalis		Brazil (south)
Cotesia flavipes (parasitoid)	Diatraea saccharalis