Laboratory population parameters and field impact of the larval endoparasitoid Pseudapanteles dignus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) on its host Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in tomato crops in Argentina.

NIEVES, E.L.; PEREYRA, P.C.; MEDONE, P.; SÁNCHEZ, N.E.

JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY

ENTOMOLOGICAL SOC AMER

Lugar: Lanham; Año: 2015 p. 1553 - 1559

0022-0493

The tomato moth Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is a key pest of tomato Lycopersicon esculentum L. crops in Central and South America. At present it is dispersing rapidly in Africa and Eurasian continents as an invasive pest, threatening the worldwide tomato production. Pseudapanteles dignus (Muesebeck) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), is an American endoparasitoid reported as the main natural enemy of T. absoluta in commercial tomato. To gain knowledge of the potential role of P. dignus in the biological control of this pest we determined its population parameters in laboratory and the parasitoid impact on T. absoluta in the field. In laboratory, lifetime fecundity was 193 eggs per female, and longevity was 24 and 26 days for female and male, respectively. The finite rate of increase (λ) was 1.15 per female per day and the intrinsic rate of natural increase (rm) was 0.14. The net reproductive rate (R0) was found to be 51.15, and generation time (T) 28.80 days. The time for doubling the population (DT) was 5 days. Furthermore, field impact of parasitism that is the total mortality P. dignus is capable of inflicting on T. absoluta population, ranged from 33 to 64% in the different years studied. Population parameters estimated in this study can be considered baseline information for a mass rearing protocol of this parasitoid. Moreover, growth rates of P. dignus, particularly rm and its impact on field populations of T. absoluta indicated that this parasitoid would be a reliable candidate for biological control of this pest.