Host Species Affects Gut Microbial Community and Offspring Developmental Performances in the Pupal Parasitoid Yang (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae).

are known to exploit in varying degrees a wide range of lepidopteran species and its offspring development may vary with host species. This study examined its preimaginal development and larval gut microbiota in parasitizing five folivorous lepidopteran hosts including (referred to thereafter as CcHc), (CcAp), (CcHa), (CcSe), and (CcSf). Though rates of parasitism and offspring eclosion did not change with host species, the development period and number of offspring eclosed varied with hosts, with the shortest period in CcSf and the highest number from CcAp. For offspring larval gut microbiota, though phylum Proteobacteria was dominant for attacking CcAp, Firmicutes was so for the other hosts. All microbial genera except were less abundant for CcSf than the other hosts. The database-based predictions indicate a significant positive correlation between and with the relative number of wasp emergence, while exhibits a strong positive association with the developmental period. Our results imply the potential relevance of the gut microbial community in offspring larvae to host species attacked by .