Morphology, Biology and Population Dynamism of Anastatus acherontiae, a parasitoid of Streblote siva in Bushehr, Iran

Anastatus acherontiae Narayanan, Subba Rao & Ramachandra is the native egg parasitoid of Streblote siva (Lefebvre) and Acherontia atropos (L.) in Bushehr of Iran which can considered as with potential candidate biological control for agent inundative releases. The A. acherontiae colony was originally established in 2017 from mass eggs of S. siva. These rearing containers were placed in an incubator set at a light/temperature cycle of L16h/26°C and D8h/18°C. The body of the egg is 0.654±0.004 mm and it is ellipsoidal and bears a stalk. The wasp has five larval instars. The average length of the female wasp is 2.678±0.014 mm. There was a significant difference between the lifetime of females fed with honey water solution (109.25±1.47 days) with females provided only with water and host (21.63±0.34 days). The egg development was 3.80±0.12 days. Development from larva to adult was 25.40±0.58 days. The pupal stage lasted 9.80±0.26 days. From the oviposition of A. acherontiae to the emergence of adult was 37.3±0.30 days. The mean of eggs laid was 60.56±1.74. A. acherontiae was able to complete 2 to 3 overlapping generations. In early October, the adult’s wasps appear gradually and this trend continued until December. The second generation of the parasitoid wasp appeared in March and it attacked to the host's spring generations. The overwintering was as prepupa into host egg and adult wasp. The valuable data gained on the biology and population dynamism of A. acherontiae can be help to develop a release strategy of this parasitoid against S. siva.