A survey on foraging behavior of Fopius carpomyiae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a parasitoid of ber fruit fly Carpomyia vesuviana (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Document Type : Research paper-Persian

Authors

1 Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahva, Iran

2 Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

3 Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.

4 Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background and objectives
Fopius carpomyiae Silvestri (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is an egg and rare larval parasitoid of ber fruit fly, Carpomyia vesuviana Costa (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Bushehr and Khozestan provinces.
Materials and Methods
In this research, firstly the synchronous cohorts of F. carpomyiae females were produced. Then the mated females (7-8 days old) were released singly into petri dish containing a ber fruit infested by a clutch of ber fruit fly eggs. Each female (n = 20) was observed continuously under a stereomicroscope while she remained in the patch and the time of onset and duration of all distinguishable behavioral events were recorded using an MP3 voice recorder.
Results
The wasp females devoted a lot of time to oviposition (146.40 ± 8.80 sec; 47%), and probing behaviors (98.75 ± 2.27 sec; 31%), during patch residence time (313.2 sec). The foragers allocated the least times to the resting, walking and flying behaviors. The average number of oviposition on each fruit was 1.85 ± 0.15, the maximum and minimum durations of ovipositor insertions resulting in parasitism were 44, and 217 sec, respectively. Moreover, on average, the egg load of F. carpomyiae females was 29.4, and the percentage of parasitism was 39.20.
Discussion
According to the results, F. carpomyiae females showed the proper exploitation of host because of its effective foraging behaviors and high percentage of parasitism. 

Keywords

Plant Protection (Scientific Journal of Agriculture)
Volume 41, Issue 3
October 2018
Pages 73-85

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