Monday, December 11, 2006 - 9:35 AM
0296

Can a specific parasitoid influence race structure of European corn borer?

Faruque-uz Zaman, mfz108@psu.edu1, Edwin G. Rajotte, egrajotte@psu.edu1, Dennis D. Calvin, ifa@psu.edu1, Liwang Cui, luc10@psu.edu1, and Douglas V. Sumerford, sumrford@iastate.edu2. (1) Pennsylvania State University, Entomology, 527 ASI building, University Park, PA, (2) Iowa State University, Entomology, USDA-ARS, Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research Unit, Ames, IA

Field collected, over-wintered European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) larvae were observed for parasitoid infestation for multiple years (2003, 2004 and 2005) and locations (4 locations in Pennsylvania). Collected larva were reared under non-diapausing conditions of 25oC, 18:6 L:D, and more then 60% humidity. The ratio of univoltine and multivoltine individual in a population can varied significantly between years at the same location. While their race ratio is thought to be due to climatic variation, other factors may involve. For instance, the larval parasitoid’s (Macrocentrus cingulum) development is synchronized to the multivoltine population only and shifted the race ratio balance towards the univoltine population in the area where both races co-occurred. In addition, M. cingulum influence the sex ratio of the post diapause European corn borer population by infesting more female larvae.

 



Species 1: Lepidoptera Crambidae Ostrinia nubilalis (European corn borer)
Species 2: Hymenoptera Braconidae Macrocentrus cingulum

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