Morphological and biological characteristics of Meteorus gyrator (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a solitary endoparasitoid of cabbage moth larvae

摘要

The cabbage moth (Mamestra brassicae) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a serious defoliating pest of a number of brassicaceous crops, including oilseed rape. The widespread availability of brassicaceous crops and oilseed rape fields in Iran provide ideal conditions for the year-round development of this pest. Infestations may be serious, and outbreaks may require the use of pesticides. Field surveys conducted in the northern regions of Iran resulted in the capture of cabbage moth larvae parasitized by Meteorus gyrator (= scutellator) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a specific solitary larval parasitoid (Askew & Shaw, 1986; Goto et al., 1986; Abbasipour, 2001) recently reported by Smethurst et al. (2004) to parasitize five noctuid pests, including cabbage moth. The high levels of parasitism observed in oilseed rape fields of north of Iran suggest that the parasitoid may be an effective biological control agent.