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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Hilo, Hawaii » Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center » Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #328267
Research Project: Detection, Control and Area-wide Management of Fruit Flies and Other Quarantine Pests of Tropical/Subtropical Crops

Location: Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research

Title: Effect of Fopius arisanus Sonan oviposition experience on parasitization of Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel

Author
item GONCALVES, RAFAEL DA SILVA - Universidade Federal De Pelotas
item Manoukis, Nicholas
item NAVA, DORI - Embrapa

Submitted to: BioControl
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/28/2017
Publication Date: 7/10/2017
Citation: Goncalves, R., Manoukis, N., Nava, D.E. 2017. Effect of Fopius arisanus Sonan oviposition experience on parasitization of Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel. Biocontrol. 62(5):595-602. https://doi: 10.1007/s10526-017-9827-7.

Interpretive Summary: The parasitoid wasp Fopius arisanus is an important biocontrol agent against fruit flies of economic importance. It operates by laying its eggs in the eggs of the fruit fly hosts. Though researchers have examined the effect of wasp age on its effectiveness at parasitizing, this is usually done by exposing the same wasps to eggs daily and measuring how well they are able to oviposit. In this study, we have de-coupled the effect of chronological age from that of previous oviposition opportunities (=experience). The results show that age does not have a significant effect over the range tested (1-3 weeks), but experience does have a strong effect on oviposition performance.

Technical Abstract: Fopius arisanus (Sonan) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is an important fruit fly parasitoid, successfully introduced in programs of classical biological control around the world. One aspect of its reproductive biology that has received increasing attention is the role of learning on parasitization by individual females. In this study, we examined the effect of previous oviposition opportunities on the reproductive success and progeny sex ratio of F. arisanus on eggs of Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel (Diptera: Tephritidae). Our results indicate that the proportion of eggs parasitized and parasitoid yield both increase with increasing experience, as acquired by individual females via previous oviposition opportunities. These effects are shown to be unrelated to parasitoid age, which we found not to have an effect on parasitization, yield or sex ratio. We discuss the implications of our results on mass rearing and and also in terms of the efficiency of this biological control agent in the field.