Laboratory and Semi-Field Cage Demography Studies of Diachasmimorpha longicaudata Mass-Reared on Two Ceratitis capitata Strains

Abstract

Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) or medfly is a polyphagous pest of fruit crops worldwide.The Asian-native larval parasitoid Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead) is mass-rearedat the San Juan Biofactory and is currently released for medfly control in Argentina. Information on parasitoid survival, reproduction, and population growth parameters is critical for optimizing the mass-rearing process and successfully achieving large-scale release.This study provides a first-time insight into the demography of two population lines of D.longicaudata: one mass-reared on medfly larvae of the Vienna-8 temperature-sensitive lethalgenetic sexing strain and the other on larvae of the wild biparental medfly strain. The aimwas to compare both parasitoid populations to improve mass-rearing quality and to assessperformance on medfly in a semi-arid environment, typical of Argentina’s central-westernfruit-growing region. Tests were performed under laboratory and non-controlled environmental conditions in semi-field cages during three seasons. Dl(Cc-bip) females exhibitedhigher reproductive potential than did Dl(Cc-tsl) females under lab conditions. However,both Dl(Cc-bip) and Dl(Cc-tsl) were found to be similar high-quality females with high population growth rates in warm–temperate seasons, i.e., late spring and summer. Dl(Cc-bip)females were only able to sustain low reproductive rates in early autumn, a colder season.These results are useful for improving the parasitoid mass production at the San JuanBiofactory and redesigning parasitoid release schedules in Argentina’s irrigated, semi-arid,fruit-growing regions.