Biocontrol characteristics of the fruit fly pupal parasitoid Trichopria drosophilae (Hymenoptera: Diapriidae) emerging from different hosts

摘要

Trichopria drosophilae (Hymenoptera: Diapriidae) is an important pupal endoparasitoid of Drosophila melanogaster Meigen (Diptera: Drosophilidae) and some other fruit fly species, such as D. suzukii , a very important invasive and economic pest. Studies of T. drosophilae suggest that this could be a good biological control agent for fruit fly pests. In this research, we compared the parasitic characteristics of T. drosophilae reared in D. melanogaster (TD_m) with those reared in D. hydei (TD_h). TD_h had a larger size than TD_m. The number of maximum mature eggs of a female TD_h was 133.6?±?6.9, compared with the significantly lower value of 104.8?±?11.4 for TD_m. Mated TD_h female wasp continuously produced female offspring up to 6 days after mating, compared with only 3 days for TD_m. In addition, the offspring female ratio of TD_h, i.e., 82.32%, was significantly higher than that of TD_m, i.e., 61.37%. Under starvation treatment, TD_h survived longer than TD_m. TD_h also survived longer than TDm at high temperatures, such as 37?°C, although they both survived well at low temperatures, such as 18?°C and 4?°C. Old-age TD_h females maintained a high parasitism rate and offspring female ratio, while they were declined in old-age TD_m. Overall, TD_h had an advantage in terms of body size, fecundity, stress resistance ability and the parasitism rate compared with TD_m. Therefore, T. drosophilae from D. hydei could improve biocontrol efficacy with enormous economic benefits in the field, especially in the control of many frugivorous Drosophilidae species worldwide.