Fertility life table and biology ofTetrastichus giffardianus(Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) in the larvae ofCeratitis capitata(Diptera: Tephritidae)

Abstract

Tetrastichus giffardianus is a gregarious koinobiont endoparasitoid of tephritids, including Ceratitis capitata, which is one of the most important fruit pests worldwide. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of constant temperatures on the biology and development of the egg-adult period of T. giffardianus in larvae/pupae of C. capitata to construct a fertility life table. The study was carried out in climatic chambers at constant temperatures of 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 ± 1°C, 70 ± 10% relative humidity and a photophase of 12 h. Complete egg and larval development occurred only at temperatures of 20, 25, and 30°C. The mean longevity of males and females was inversely proportional to temperature. The time of development of the pre-imaginal period was influenced by temperature and ranged from 41 days at 20°C to 11 days at 25°C. The best T. giffardianus performance occurred at 25°C when the intrinsic rate of increase was 0.21, the mean generation time was 20.43 days, the time required to double the population was 3.33 days, and the finite rate of population increase (λ) was 1.23. The results of this study provided information for the establishment of mass rearing and an evaluation of the adaptability of T. giffardianus to different environments, which is necessary for the use of this parasitoid in the biological control of tephritid pests, particularly C. capitata.

Host-specific demography of Utetes anastrephae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), a native parasitoid of Anastrepha spp. fruit flies (Diptera, Tephritidae)

“…For example, the intrinsic rate of natural increase (r) is a population parameter described as the potential growth of a population (Jervis and Copland 1996) and can be used as an indicator of the capacity of a parasitoid species to suppress or regulate the target pest population (Vargas et al 2002;Stark et al 2004). This parameter combines both the survival and reproduction of a population and allows comparison among different species of parasitoids or when species are evaluated under different environmental conditions (Núñez-Campero et al 2014;Gonçalves et al 2018;Fernandes et al 2021).…”