Fall Armyworm Symposium: Distribution of Fall Armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Parasitoids on Five Corn Genotypes in South Georgia

Abstract

Five genotypes of corn were planted on four different dates in south Georgia during the spring of 1991. Plants were infested with neonate fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith), larvae and collected either seven or twelve days later. Larvae were reared in the laboratory on artificial diet to determine distribution of FAW parasitoids. Larvae recovered from the resistant genotype MpSWCB-4 had the highest percent parasitism (44.30%), while the susceptible genotype Pioneer 3192 had the lowest parasitism (31.70%). Aleiodes laphygmae (Gahan) was the most abundant parasitoid, attacking a total of 12.8% of the 16,120 FAW larvae recovered. Archytas marmoratus (Townsend) parasitized 10.0% of the FAW larvae while Ophion flavidus Brulle and Cotesia marginiventris (Cresson) parasitized 7.9% and 6.3%, respectively, of the recovered FAW. Ten additional parasitoid species emerged from the FAW, but none of these species attacked more than 1% of the recovered FAW larvae.