Some biological characteristics of Ooencyrtus pityocampae Mercet parasitoid of Brachynema signatum Jakovlev under laboratory conditions

Biological control is an important component of an eco-friendly approach in integrated pest management toprevent insecticide-resistant pests and minimize using pesticides. Ooencyrtus pityocampae (Mercet) (Hymenoptera:Encyrtidae) is an egg parasitoid of Brachynemasignatum (Hem.: Pentatomidae) in the pistachio orchards of Iran.

In this study, biological characteristics, such as immature developmental time, adult longevity,parasitism percentage, and sex ratio were investigated.

Mean egg, larval, pupal, and total development time of O. pityocampae were 1.94±0.01, 3.42±0.03, 7.11±0.03,and 11.84±0.06 days, respectively. On five different food regimes (honey, water,10% honey-water, no food diet, honey, and B.signatum egg), adult longevity of females and males were 39.29±1.45, 38.5±3.33, 9.3±0.56, 5.05±0.91, and 19.81±0.63 daysand 40.05±1.56, 37.5±1.05, 7.8±0.29, 3.89±0.13, and 9.09±0.74 days, respectively. Female wasps were laying eggs during thefirst two weeks after adult emergence, and maximum parasitism (39.27±0.01 Eggs) was observed on day 3 of adult life span.Interestingly, sex ratio was positively correlated with B. Signatum egg mass size increased from 0.11 to 0.26 when the eggmass size increased from 10 to 40.

These laboratory findings indicate that O. pityocampae may show good potential as a biocontrol agentagainst B. signatum under IPM programs.