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Life history parameters of two geographically separated populations of Spalangia cameroni, a microhymenopteran pupal parasitoid of muscoid flies

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Abstract

Spalangia cameroni Perkins (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is used as a biological control agent against house flies and stable flies in livestock farms in Northern Europe. In the present study, the juvenile development, survival, and sex ratio of one Danish and one Norwegian population of S. cameroni were investigated at 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35°C to determine the best adapted strain for release programs. The Danish population developed 50 days faster at 15°C, whereas the Norwegian developed 3–4 days faster at 25°C. The difference was smaller at 20°C and 30°C. Only a few Danish female parasitoids emerged at 35°C. Both populations required 381 degree days to complete development and exhibited optimal juvenile survival at 23.7°C. The Norwegian population produced more females than the Danish population at all temperatures (average of 67.5% vs. 55.5%, respectively). The overall differences between the populations were small, but might still be important for inundative release programs.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the technical support in the laboratory by Karen Riddervold and Nina Huynh (NIPH) and Bjarne Nielsen, Gitte Jensen, Claus Dahl, and Aase Borges (DA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pest Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Nydalen, P.O. Box 4404, 0403, Oslo, Norway

    Tone Birkemoe & Arnulf Soleng

  2. Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Agroecology, University of Aarhus, Forsøgsvej 1, 4200, Slagelse, Denmark

    Henrik Skovgård

Authors
  1. Tone Birkemoe
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  2. Arnulf Soleng
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  3. Henrik Skovgård
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Correspondence to Tone Birkemoe.

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Handling Editor: Stefano Colazza

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Birkemoe, T., Soleng, A. & Skovgård, H. Life history parameters of two geographically separated populations of Spalangia cameroni, a microhymenopteran pupal parasitoid of muscoid flies. BioControl 57, 375–385 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-011-9406-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-011-9406-2

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