Manipulation of Female Parasitoid Age Enhances Laboratory Culture of LYSIPHLEBUS TESTACEIPES (hymenoptera: aphidiidae) Reared on TOXOPTERA CITRICIDA (Homoptera: aphididae)
Abstract
Cultures of the endoparasitoid Lysiphlebus testaceipes Cresson (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) on the brown citrus aphid, Toxoptera citricida Kirkaldy (Homoptera: Aphididae), previously have been reported to be difficult to establish. In this study, L. testaceipes colonies were initiated from parasitized brown citrus aphids obtained from field-collected citrus foliage in Florida and successfully maintained for >25 generations in the laboratory. To enhance colony rearing methods, several aspects of the parasitoid’s biology were examined. An evaluation of foraging by single or multiple females determined that the presence of multiple females did not influence mean progeny yield per female. However, the mean number of progeny produced by mature (25-49 and 49-73 h) L. testaceipes females was higher than that produced by younger (1-25 h) females over a 24-h period. In all three parasitoid age classes, each reared on second-, third- or fourth-instar aphid hosts, significantly more mummies containing L. testaceipes formed on a paper coffee filter covering the soil surface compared to the number of mummies formed on citrus foliage. Mummy formation off foliage has not been reported for this aphid-parasitoid complex in citrus. Mated females of L. testaceipes with access to honey and water and without access to aphids or honeydew lived longer than females that had access to aphid hosts and honeydew. These data provide novel findings on the biology of L. testaceipes when parasitizing the brown citrus citrus, particularly on mummification sites, and allowed us to develop a protocol for routine large-scale rearing of L. testaceipes on brown citrus aphids on citrus.View this article in BioOne
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