Effects of the artificial larval diet and host species on quality parameters of Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

DEVESCOVI, FRANCISCO; MONTEALEGRE, XIOMARA; PAZOS, ADRIANA; GALLARDO, GABRIELA; CUNZOLO, SEBASTIAN; GARBALENA, MICAELA; NUSSENBAUM, ANA LAURA; SEGURA, DIEGO FERNANDO

CABA, Buenos Aires

Congreso; 7th International Entomophagous Insect Conference; 2023

Controlof fruit flies of economic importance has been usually carried out by usinginsecticides, which nowadays are known to be harmful for other non-targetspecies and the environment. Among other techniques, biological control hasbeen considered as a more adequate alternative. In Argentina, Ceratitis capitata and Anastrepha fraterculus are the two targetpest species to be controlled, as they produce great losses for thefruticulture. Diachasmimorphalongicaudata (Dl) has been proposed as a control agent of these pests. Inthe laboratory, we artificially rear these three species with experimentalpurposes. For each fly species we usually use a specific artificial larval dietthat maximizes the rearing yield of each colony. For the rearing of Dl, adultparasitoids parasitize L3 larvae that are exposed in artificial ovipositionunits. Our aim was to determine a combination of hosts and larval diets thatmaximizes production and quality of adult parasitoid. Thus, using a factorialdesign with two diets and two fruit fly species we obtained four groups ofparasitoids that were evaluated in their developmental time, flight ability,survival and fecundity. Results will be discussed considering the weight of thefour types of non-parasitized pupae and the characterization of the nutritionalprofile of the two diets, the four types of host larvae and the four types ofadult parasitoid.