Parasitism and reproductive ability of Trichospilus pupivorus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) on greater wax moth Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) pupae

Abstract

Trichospilus pupivorus is an endoparasite of many insect pests of tropical and subtropical regions. In the

Mekong Delta, they are identified as important agents in the management of the coconut black-headed caterpillar

O. arenosella. This study was conducted to determine the parasitic effectiveness of T. pupivorus wasps on the

host Galleria mellonella pupae. Experiments were carried out including rearing T. pupivorus populations and

individuals on different numbers of hosts. The results showed that when rearing T. pupivorus populations on G.

mellonella pupae, the rate of wax worm pupae in the treatments carrying was 100%. The time for the wasps to

parasitize the host was mainly from 01 to 04 days. The average number of T. pupivorus wasps in the 01 mummy

with 20, 25 and 30 wax moth pupae giving high results was 11,313±2,128, 10,929±922 and 10,964±1,551,

respectively. The proportion of adult T. pupivorus females in all treatments was from 95.2 - 95.9%. When

breeding individuals, signs of parasitism were detected from the 2nd day after exposure to an average of

1.00±0.00 to 1.33±0.58 wax moth pupae carrying T. pupivorus. The rearing density of 1 adult female T. pupivorus

with 5, 10 and 15 wax moth pupae resulted in emergence of 188.3±21.5, 134.3±74.5 and 127.0±21.9 individuals,

respectively. The total time from exposure to emergence was 16.0 days and T. pupivorus had a longer survival

time of female adults than male adults in all experiments.