Anaphes iole Girault is a native, solitary egg parasitoid of lygus bugs in North America. This study examined the effects of parasitoid density and arena size on progeny production under laboratory conditions. Production increased by a factor of 2.1 as parasitoid density increased from 5 to 10 and from 10 to 20 A. iole females per 8.3 L arena (rearing cage) with a large host patch containing from 1,500 to 2,000 eggs of Lygus hesperus Knight (Heteroptera: Miridae). Sex ratios of mature progeny did not differ significantly between parasitoid densities of 10 versus 20 females. Arena size (0.95, 1.7, 3.8, or 7.95 L cages) had no effect on progeny production when 20 females were confined to cages containing a large host patch. This research suggests that little or no measurable interference occurs between ovipositing females on a large host patch and that the presence of a superabundance of putative hosts could be more important than arena size for efficient in-vivo production of A. iole.
Species 1: Hymenoptera Mymaridae Anaphes iole
Keywords: mass rearing, biological control
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