Influence of liquid food on fecundity and longevity of <i>Microctonus hyperodae</i> Loan

Abstract

Microctonus hyperodae Loan (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is an introduced parasitoid of the pasture pest Argentine stem weevil, Listronotus bonariensis (Kuschel) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). This paper describes the effect of providing honey solution to caged M. hyperodae females derived from three South American geographic populations (ecotypes) on their fecundity and longevity. Both the longevity and fecundity of parasitoids from all three ecotypes was increased when they had access to honey. There was no significant difference between ecotypes in either overall fecundity or longevity. There was evidence of an interaction between the honey and ecotype treatments in the fecundity data. The fecundity of females from the Concepcion ecotype (Chile) tended to be lower than that of the Mendoza (Argentina) and Colonia ecotypes when honey was not available, while all ecotypes had similar fecundities when they had access to honey.

Effect of black legume aphid <i>Aphis craccivora</i> honeydew on survival of the parasitoid <i>Microctonus aethiopoides</i>

“…Adult Microctonus spp. longevity and fecundity, and therefore eficacy against pasture pests, is greatly enhanced by access to nectar (Phillips 1998). However, white clover (Trifolium repens) lowers are both too narrow and too deep to permit access to these parasitoids (Vattala et al 2006).…”

Linear patterns of dispersal and build up of the introduced parasitoidMicroctonus hyperodae(Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in Canterbury, New Zealand

“…The delicate and ephemeral nature of the adult parasitoids (e.g. Phillips, 1998), coupled with their weak flight, suggest that it is less likely that the species would have actively dispersed at such a rate on its own. The dispersal rates of both M. hyperodae and M. aethiopoides are probably closely related to the flight activity of their parasitized weevil hosts.…”

“…This is particularly so after the emergence of parasitoid adults from the overwintered larval population and prior to the emergence of the first summer weevil generation. Phillips et al (1998) showed that the first summer generation of M. hyperodae adults had sufficient hosts available to lay only about 15% of its potential eggs. Presumably, such scarcity of hosts could have induced the adult parasitoid to actively disperse.…”

“…Since its importation, detailed investigation into the biology of the parasitoid has been conducted including analysis of host specificity (e.g. Goldson et al, 1992;Barratt et al, 1997), dispersal patterns in Otago (Ferguson et al, 1997), photoperiodicity and diapause (Goldson et al, 1993a,b), phenological modelling (Barlow et al, 1994), attack behaviour (Barlow et al, 1993;Armstrong et al, 1996), interaction with pathogens (Barker & Goh, 1992), phenology (Goldson et al, 1998b) and fecundity and longevity (Goldson et al, 1995;Phillips et al, 1996Phillips et al, , 1998Phillips, 1998). Preliminary observation indicated that the seasonality of M. hyperodae at Lincoln resembles that observed by Loan & Lloyd (1974) in Argentina.…”

Measuring parasitoid carbohydrate levels to improve biological control

“…The endoparasitoid Microctonus hyperodae Loan (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) investigated in this study is an introduced biological control agent of Listronotus bonariensis (Kuschel) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) (McNeill et al 2002). Previous studies have shown that the longevity of M. hyperodae adults can be signifi cantly increased by provision of either glucose or honey solutions (Hodgson et al 1993;Phillips 1998). Unfed M. hyperodae adults lived 10 days with water in the laboratory (Hodgson et al 1993;Vattala et al 2004), which was an unexpectedly long time because many other parasitoids live only 2-3 days without sugar.…”