Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Newark, Delaware » Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #374136
Research Project: Biological Control of Invasive Wood-Boring Insect Pests such as Emerald Ash Borer and Asian Longhorned Beetle

Location: Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit

Title: Performances of six eupelmid egg parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from China on Japanese giant silkworm Caligula japonica (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) with different host-age regimes

Author
item CHEN, YONG-MING - Jilin Agricultural University
item QU, XING-RAN - Jilin Agricultural University
item LI, TIAN-HAO - Jilin Agricultural University
item IQBAL, ASIM - Jilin Agricultural University
item Wang, Xingeng
item REN, ZHI-YONG - Jilin Agricultural University
item DESNEUX, NICOLAS - National Council For Scientific Research-Cnrs
item ZANG, LIAN-SHENG - Jilin Agricultural University

Submitted to: Journal of Pest Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/10/2020
Publication Date: 8/17/2020
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/7111139
Citation: Chen, Y., Qu, X., Li, T., Iqbal, A., Wang, X., Ren, Z., Desneux, N., Zang, L. 2020. Performances of six eupelmid egg parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from China on Japanese giant silkworm Caligula japonica (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) with different host-age regimes. Journal of Pest Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-020-01271-1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-020-01271-1

Interpretive Summary: The Japanese giant silkworm Caligula japonica is a newly emerging defoliator pest of forest and fruit trees. It has not been reported from North America, but it is causing severe economic losses in East Asia. Current control strategies rely on broad-spectrum insecticides. To develop effective environmentally friendly control strategies such as biological control for this pest, we evaluated six native Chinese egg parasitoids as potential biological control agents for this pest. All six parasitoids readily attack this pest, but three of the candidates were shown to be the most suitable candidates for mass rearing and use in a biological control program based upon various measures of fitness and efficacy.

Technical Abstract: The Japanese giant silkworm Caligula japonica Moore is an emerging defoliator pest of forest and fruit trees, causing severe economic losses in East Asia. To identify biological control agents for this pest, we comparatively evaluated six indigenous eupelmid egg parasitoids (Anastatus fulloi, A. gansuensis, A. japonicus, A. meilingensis, Mesocomys albitarsis and M. trabalae) from China in terms of their performances (number of parasitized eggs, developmental time, offspring emergence and sex ratio) on C. japonica eggs of four different ages (0, 10, 20 and 30 d old). Results showed that all six parasitoids readily parasitize C. japonica eggs of all tested ages, but A. japonicus was the most efficient species based on the number of parasitized eggs, followed by M. albitarsis and M. trabalae, and the other three parasitoid species. All four Anastatus species parasitized more old than young eggs, while M. albitarsis did not show a strong host age preference and M. trabalae parasitized the oldest less than young eggs. For all host ages, developmental time was longest in A. gansuensis and shortest in M. albitarsis, offspring emergence was high (> 90%), and progeny was strongly female biased (> 70%) among all parasitoids except for A. gansuensis which produced all female progeny. Portions of A. japonicus offspring (< 13.1%) entered diapause as pre-pupae. Accordingly, A. japonicus, M. albitarsis and M. trabalae were identified as the most suitable agents against C. japonica. This information may also help improve rearing and field-release protocols, in terms of host age-related effects on these parasitoids.