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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Protection and Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #308703
Title: Reproductive biology of Apanteles opuntiarum (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), biological control agent of Cactoblastis cactorum (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in Mexico and USA

Author
item GUALA, MARIEL - Fuedei
item VARONE, LAURA - Fuedei
item LOGARZO, GUILLERMO - Fuedei
item Carpenter, James
item Hight, Stephen

Submitted to: Acta Zoological Bohem
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/20/2013
Publication Date: 9/20/2013
Citation: Guala, M.E., Varone, L., Logarzo, G.A., Carpenter, J.E., Hight, S.D. 2013. Reproductive biology of Apanteles opuntiarum (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), biological control agent of Cactoblastis cactorum (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in Mexico and USA. Acta Zoological Bohem. 57(Suppl.S):42-44.

Interpretive Summary: Apanteles opuntiarum, a parasitoid of cactus-feeding lepidopteran larvae, was incorrectly identified as A. alexanderi during the last 50 years. The discovery of A. opuntiarum as a new and separate species was followed by studies of its native host range. These studies revealed that the host range of A. opuntiarum was restricted to the genus Cactoblastis, which made it an attractive candidate as a control agent for the invasive cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum, in the United States. It was exported to a quarantine laboratory in the U.S. for further host range tests in 2012. The aim of our work was to study the behavior and reproductive biology of A. opuntiarum to facilitate and optimize mass rearing and specificity studies to be conducted in U.S. Observations from our studies reveal that this parasitoid develops inside the host larva while the host continues to develop through all larval instars. Female parasitoids continually develop eggs during their adult life (synovigenic). Parasitoid larvae develop gregariously within a single host larva as a result of the host larva receiving multiple parasitoid eggs, rather than several parasitoid embryos developing from a single fertilized egg (polyembryonic).

Technical Abstract: Apanteles opuntiarum, a parasitoid of cactus-feeding lepidopteran larvae, was incorrectly identified as A. alexanderi during the last 50 years. The discovery of A. opuntiarum as a new and separate species was followed by studies of its native host range. These studies revealed that the host range of A. opuntiarum was restricted to the genus Cactoblastis, which made it an attractive candidate as a control agent for the invasive cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum, in the United States. It was exported to a quarantine laboratory in the U.S. for further host range tests in 2012. The aim of our work was to study the behavior and reproductive biology of A. opuntiarum to facilitate and optimize mass rearing and specificity studies to be conducted in U.S. Observations from our studies reveal that this parasitoid is koinobiont, sinovigenic, gregarious and not polyembryonic.