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The ‘Goldilocks Grub’: reproductive responses to leafroller host development in Goniozus jacintae, a parasitoid of the light brown apple moth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2024

Emma Aspin Open the ORCID record for Emma Aspin [Opens in a new window] ,
Michael A. Keller Open the ORCID record for Michael A. Keller [Opens in a new window]  and
Ian C. W. Hardy Open the ORCID record for Ian C. W. Hardy [Opens in a new window]
Emma Aspin
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, Food & Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Adelaide, Australia School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, UK
Michael A. Keller
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, Food & Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Adelaide, Australia
Ian C. W. Hardy*
Affiliation:
School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, UK Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
*
Corresponding author: Ian C. W. Hardy; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Many parasitoids alter their reproductive behaviour in response to the quality of encountered hosts. They make adaptive decisions concerning whether to parasitise a potential host, the number of eggs laid on an accepted host, and the allocation of sex to their offspring. Here we present evidence that Goniozus jacintae Farrugia (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae), a gregarious ectoparasitoid of larval tortricids, adjusts its reproductive response to the size and developmental stage of larvae of the light brown apple moth (LBAM), Epiphyas postvittana (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Goniozus jacintae parasitises instars 3–6 of LBAM, but most readily parasitises the later, larger, instars. Brood sizes were bigger on larger hosts and brood sex ratios were female biased (proportion of males = 0.23) with extremely low variance (never >1 male in a brood at emergence), perhaps the most precise of all studied bethylids. Host size did not influence brood development time, which averaged 19.64 days, or the body size of male offspring. However, the size of females was positively correlated with host size and negatively correlated with brood size. The sizes of individual males and females were positively related to the average amount of host resource available to individuals within each brood, suggesting that adult body size is affected by scramble competition among feeding larvae. Average brood sizes were: 3rd instar host, 1.3 (SE ± 0.075); 4th instar, 2.8 (SE ± 0.18); 5th instar, 4.7 (SE ± 0.23); 6th instar, 5.4 (SE ± 0.28). The largest brood size observed was 8 individuals (7 females, 1 male) on the 6th instar of LBAM. These results suggest that later instars would give the highest yield to optimise mass-rearing of G. jacintae if used for augmentative biological pest control.

Keywords

bethylidbiological controlEpiphyas postvittanahost qualityhost sizelight brown apple mothoffspring sizeparasitoidprecise sex ratiosmall broods
Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , First View , pp. 1 - 9
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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