Effects of Host Ages and Release Strategies on the Performance of the Pupal Parasitoid Spalangia endius on the Melon Fly Bactrocera cucurbitae

Jian-Feng Liu, Cheng-Xu Wu, Atif Idrees, Hai-Yan Zhao () and Mao-Fa Yang ()
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Jian-Feng Liu: State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Cheng-Xu Wu: College of Forestry, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Atif Idrees: Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory for Agricultural Pest Management of the Mountainous Region, Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Crop Pest in Guiyang, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Entomology, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Hai-Yan Zhao: College of Tobacco Science, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Mao-Fa Yang: Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory for Agricultural Pest Management of the Mountainous Region, Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Crop Pest in Guiyang, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Entomology, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-8

Abstract: The melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett (Diptera: Tephritidae), is a quarantine pest that causes considerable economic losses to growers of vegetables and fruits worldwide. Spalangia endius (Walker) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is a solitary pupal parasitoid of various dipteran hosts. We assessed the impact of the host pupal age (2, 4, and 6 days old), host density (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30), and parasitoid density (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) on the parasitizing potential of S. endius on B. cucurbitae pupae under laboratory conditions. The effects of different soil depths on the parasitism rate of S. endius and the dispersal behavior of S. endius at distances of 0, 5, and 10 m were also evaluated under field conditions. The results showed that the parasitism rate of S. endius significantly increased with the increase in host density and parasitoid density. The host pupal age did not influence the number of pupae parasitized by S. endius and the progeny sex ratio of S. endius under different host densities. In the fields, different puparium burial depths of B. dorsalis pupae significantly influenced the parasitism and eclosion rates of S. endius but did not influence the eclosion rate of B. cucurbitae . Spalangia endius females could travel up to 10 m to parasitize at a similar rate on B. cucurbitae pupae compared to S. endius placed at 0 m.

Keywords: biological control; melon fly; parasitoid; depth; dispersal; Spalangia endius; Bactrocera cucurbitae (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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