Technical Note

Musca domestica as a Host for Mass Rearing of Parasitoid Palmistichus elaeisis (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae)

Zaché Bruno¹, Zaché Ronelza Rodrigues da Costa¹, Candelária Murici Carlos¹, Wilcken Carlos Frederico¹

¹São Paulo State University (UNESP), Department of Plant Protection, School of Agronomic Sciences. Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil. Correio eletrônico: bzache@bol.com.br

Recibido: 26/2/12 Aceptado: 19/3/13

Summary

Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae), is a potential mechanical vector of etiological agents such as viruses, bacteria, protozoan cysts and larvae of helminthes. It has shown potential as an alternative host for the mass raising of parasitoids. Studies demonstrate the possibility of producing large quantities of hosts in a small space and a short time. Palmistichus elaeisis (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) is a potential parasitoid for insects of different orders. This is the first report of P. elaeisis parasitizing pupae of Musca domestica in Brazil.

Key words: ALTERNATIVE HOST, ETIOLOGICAL AGENTS, BIOLOGICAL CONTROL, PUPAL PARASITOID

Resumen

Musca domestica como huésped para la cría masiva del parasitoide Palmistichus elaeisis (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae)

Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae), es potencial vector mecánico de los agentes etiológicos tales como virus, bacterias, quistes de protozoos y larvas de helmintos. Se ha mostrado como un huésped alternativo potencial para la cría masiva de parasitoides. Los estudios muestran la posibilidad de producir grandes cantidades de huéspedes en un pequeño espacio y en tiempo corto. Palmistichus elaeisis (Hymenptera: Eulophidae) es un parasitoide potencial para los insectos de diferentes órdenes. Este es el primer reporte de P. elaeisis parasitando pupas de Musca domestica en Brasil.

Palabras clave: HUÉSPED ALTERNATIVO, AGENTES ETIOLÓGICOS, BIOCONTROL, PARASITOIDE DE PUPAS

Introduction

The development of techniques that allow the rearing of natural enemies on a commercial scale is one of the basic requirements for biological control. Among the main natural enemies, parasitoids have been evaluated for their performance in controlling agricultural and forest pests. The success of parasitoids implies compatibility with their hosts (Strand and Pech, 1995; Strand, 2008). Beyond mass production, the study of alternative hosts elucidates the ability of a natural enemy to control the pest population (Pratissoli et al., 2005; Soares et al., 2007).

The ease of rearing Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae) on an artificial diet, and its short life cycle, have rendered it a strong candidate as an alternative host for parasitoid mass rearing in several biological control programs. Further studies are being carried out to contribute to a better understanding of the host and parasitoid population biodynamic.

M. domestica has shown potential as an alternative host for the mass raising of parasitoids. Research studies on M. domestica larvae demonstrate the possibility of producing large quantities of hosts in a small space and a short time (Hou et al., 2007).

Parasitoids are important regulators of insect populations of different orders (Pennacchio and Strand, 2006). The family Eulophidae presents 283 genera and 3,977 species, in tropical and temperate regions, as endoparasitoids or ectoparasitoids, idiobiont or coinobiont, solitary or gregarious, primary or hyperparasitoids, specialists or generalists, and many of these species have been studied and utilized successfully in biological control programs (Noyes, 1998; Gauthier et al., 2000; Hansson, 2004).

Tetrastichinae is a major subfamily of Eulophidae, and has as hosts representatives of 100 insect families of different orders (Lasalle, 1993; Lasalle and Schauff, 1995). A new Tetrastichinae species was described as Palmistichus elaeisis (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and reported in pupae of Eupseudosoma involuta (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae), Euselasia eucerus (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae) (Delvare and Lasalle, 1993), Sabulodes sp. (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) (Bittencourt and Berti, 1999), Thyrinteina arnobia and Thyrinteina leucoceraea (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) (Pereira et al., 2008) and Sarsina violascens (Lepidotpera: Lymantriidae) (Zaché et., 2012).

The generalist behavior of P. elaeisis characterizes this natural enemy as a promising agent for utilization in biological control programs.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of P. elaeisis as a pupal parasitoid on M. domestica and as a host for mass rearing.

Material and Methods

Parasitoids used in this test were originally collected on pupae of E. eucerus. (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae) in eucalyptus plantations in Lençois Paulista, São Paulo State, Brazil, in 2011. Thereafter, a laboratory culture has been maintained, using pupae of Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) as hosts. The parasitoid rearing technique was described in detail by Zaché et al. (2010) for Trichospilus diatreae (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) Pupae of M. domestica were removed from the rearing and placed individually in glass tubes, 4 cm in diameter, closed with «voil», wherein 15 pupae were offered to P. elaeisis females at a 5:1 (parasitoid: host) ratio for 72 h. Thereafter, the female was removed and containers with M. domestica pupae were maintained in a climate-controlled chamber at 26 ± 2 °C, 60 ± 10% relative humidity, and a 12 hour photophase. The following parameters were determined: level of parasitism, number of emerged and non-emerged parasitoids and duration of egg-adult cycle. The M. domestica pupa were dissected to evaluate the non-emerged parasitoids.

Results and Discussion

This represents the first report of this species parasitizing M. domestica pupae (Fig.1) and offers new opportunities for research to determine the potential of M. domestica as an alternative host for mass rearing.

The level of parasitism reached 80%, with an emergence rate of 60%. It was verified an emergence of 11.3 ± 0.2 parasitoids/individual pupa versus only 0.8±0.2 non-emerged parasitoids. The P. elaeisis egg-adult cycle was 17.3±0.4 days in M. domestica pupa.

Conclusions

More studies are needed to determine the potential of P. elaeisis, given that this biocontrol agent may enable the use of this host in mass rearing.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for funding this study.

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