Li Tian-Hao, Wang Xingeng, Desneux Nicolas, Song Li-Wei, Zang Lian-Sheng
Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Guizhou University, Guiyang, China.
USDA ARS Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit, Newark, DE, USA.
Pest Manag Sci. 2023 Apr;79(4):1500-1507. doi: 10.1002/ps.7318. Epub 2022 Dec 24.
Chouioia cunea is a generalist pupal endoparasitoid. Native to Eurasia, the parasitoid has been mass-reared on an alternative lepidopteran host (Antheraea pernyi) to successfully control the exotic invasive lepidopteran pest Hyphantria cunea in China. To solicit more accessible hosts, this study evaluated the potential of an easily cultured coleopteran beetle (Tenebrio molitor) as a substitute for rearing C. cunea through comparing the relative performance of the parasitoids reared from both alternative hosts on H. cunea.
Compared with those reared from A. pernyi, the parasitoids reared from T. molitor (i.e., T. molitor vs. A. pernyi groups) performed equally well in terms of parasitism rate (94.4 vs. 88.9%), number of offspring produced per parasitized host (278 vs. 286), and female body length (1.334 vs. 1.351 mm), hind-tibia length (0.322 vs. 0.324 mm) and number of mature oocytes in the ovarioles (171 vs. 187), or even better based on offspring pre-emergence time (16.0 vs 16.9 days) and percentages of emerged offspring (99.8 vs. 99.1%) and female offspring (97.1 vs. 91.3%). Flight performance testing indicated that young C. cunea adults emerged from T. molitor had a similar percentage of actively flying wasps (76.9 vs. 72.9%) and a lower percentage of inactive wasps (2.3 vs. 10.6%) when compared to those reared from A. pernyi.
Given the remarkable adaptability of C. cunea and the vast availability of T. molitor as a common resource insect worldwide, this indigenous parasitoid could be mass-reared on T. molitor to improve the prospect of biological control of H. cunea in its invaded regions. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.
白蛾周氏啮小蜂是一种多食性蛹期内寄生蜂。该寄生蜂原产于欧亚大陆，在中国已在替代鳞翅目寄主（柞蚕）上大量繁殖，以成功控制外来入侵鳞翅目害虫美国白蛾。为寻求更易获取的寄主，本研究通过比较从两种替代寄主饲养的寄生蜂对美国白蛾的相对表现，评估了一种易于养殖的鞘翅目甲虫（黄粉虫）作为饲养白蛾周氏啮小蜂替代寄主的潜力。
与从柞蚕饲养的寄生蜂相比，从黄粉虫饲养的寄生蜂（即黄粉虫组与柞蚕组）在寄生率（94.4%对88.9%）、每只被寄生寄主产生的后代数量（278对286）、雌虫体长（1.334毫米对1.351毫米）、后胫节长度（0.322毫米对0.324毫米）以及卵巢管中成熟卵母细胞数量（171对187）方面表现相当，甚至在后代羽化前时间（16.0天对16.9天）、羽化后代百分比（99.8%对99.1%）和雌虫后代百分比（97.1%对91.3%）方面表现更好。飞行性能测试表明，与从柞蚕饲养的白蛾周氏啮小蜂相比，从黄粉虫饲养的年轻成虫中主动飞行的黄蜂百分比相似（76.9%对72.9%），不活动黄蜂的百分比更低（2.3%对10.6%）。
鉴于白蛾周氏啮小蜂具有显著的适应性，且黄粉虫作为一种常见的资源昆虫在全球广泛可得，这种本土寄生蜂可以在黄粉虫上大量繁殖，以改善其入侵地区美国白蛾生物防治的前景。© 2022化学工业协会。
