Eretmocerus warrae (Naumann Schmit) is a thelytokous parasitoid of greenhouse whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) It was first detected in New Zealand in 1997 during a survey of greenhouses in Auckland Under 221C 605 RH and 168 h lightdark the effect of food supply on longevity host feeding fecundity and parasitism in E warrae was investigated with four treatments (1) no food and no host (2) 10 honey solution and no host (3) 40 2nd instar nymphs per day and no honey and (4) 40 2nd instar nymphs per day and 10 honey solution Results showed that parasitoids lived significantly longer when given honey but no host (88 days) than parasitoids given the other treatments (2555 days) (P

Aphidius ervi Haliday is an important parasitoid of several aphid species and information is needed for the development of massrearing techniques and better understanding of biological control ecology The emergence sexual maturation and oviposition of A ervi on pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) was studied in the laboratory at 201deg;C and 6070 RH with 168 h lightdark About 95 of parasitoids emerged during the photophase Females needed a significantly longer time than males to complete their life cycle Newly emerged males were able to perform their courtship display but failed to mate until they were 4 h old; newly emerged females were able to respond to males courtship display and mate Females attacked aphids in both light and dark conditions The number of eggs laid and parasitism (number of aphids parasitised) per oviposition bout (2 h oviposition period) were significantly greater in the photophase than in the scotophase

Eggs of the Mediterranean flour moth (MFM) are widely used for rearing biocontrol agents Understanding how nutritional stress and larval crowding affect MFM fitness is essential to the development of an optimal production programme Such knowledge could also help lead to novel management strategies because it is an important storage pest The development survival and reproductive output of MFM under five densities (50 100 200 400 and 800 larvae reared on 50 g of diet) were examined As larval density increased the larval developmental period significantly increased from 278 to 337 days and the larval survival rate and resulting females fecundity significantly decreased from 776 to 476 and 3268 to 1326 eggs respectively (P

Eretmocerus warrae is a parasitoid of greenhouse whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum It was first detected in New Zealand in 1997 during a survey of greenhouses in Auckland In the laboratory at 221C 605 RH and 168 h lightdark significantly higher adult emergence occurred after 23 h of light No emergence was observed during the scotophase Host feeding and oviposition occurred in both the photophase and scotophase In the photophase host feeding by E warrae tended to be higher after 46 h of light than at other stages of photophase In the scotophase the number of hosts fed on by E warrae was significantly higher 2 h before lights came on The number of eggs laid was significantly higher 1014 h into the photophase than at other stages There tended to be higher oviposition in the first 2 h of darkness

The effect of parasitism by Aphidius eadyi Stary González and Hall on reproduction of pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) was studied in the laboratory Aphids attacked as 1st and 2nd instars became mummies in the 4th instar; parasitised 3rd instar nymphs became mummies in the adult stage without producing any progeny Parasitised 4th instar nymphs and adults produced progeny but had a shorter reproductive period and produced fewer (Plt;00001) progeny than unparasitised aphids Parasitised 4th instar nymphs and adults had significantly lower intrinsic rates of increase (rm) net reproductive rates (R0) shorter generation time (T) and longer doubling time (DT) than unparasitised aphids The potential impact of the parasitoid on host population growth is discussed