Abstract
An optical method, alternate lighting, is proposed to increase the oviposition activity of parasitoid wasps. The Mediterranean flour moth Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is a substitute host for rearing Meteorus pulchricornis (Wesmael) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a parasitoid wasp of exposed-living lepidopteran pests, but its low autonomous oviposition in E. kuehniella larvae had to be improved. We attempted to enhance the oviposition behavior of M. pulchricornis by increasing the movement of E. kuehniella larvae through negative phototaxis by alternate LED lighting. Alternate lighting at 5 min intervals approximately tripled the movement of E. kuehniella larvae and almost doubled the number of eggs laid by M. pulchricornis into them. Silk-thread entanglement was a critical problem that decreased intact wasps when they were together with E. kuehniella larvae; however, it could be relieved under alternate lighting.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Madoka Nakai and Yasuhisa Kunimi (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology) for providing the wasp strain examined in this study, Kazuki Miura (Western Region Agricultural Research Center, NARO) for providing E. kuehniella, and Hiroaki Ishii (Kobe University) for his help in measuring photon flux density. This research was, in part, supported by the JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 17K19268 to KM.
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Gau, JJ., Maeto, K. Alternate lighting to enhance the oviposition behavior of parasitoid wasps by increasing the movement of host larvae. Appl Entomol Zool 56, 285–289 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13355-021-00723-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13355-021-00723-z