Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T15:47:07.482Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

OBSERVATIONS ON ATHRYCIA CINEREA (DIPTERA: TACHINIDAE), A PARASITE OF MAMESTRA CONFIGURATA (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE)1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

H.G. Wylie
Affiliation:
Research Station, Agriculture Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2M9

Abstract

Athrycia cinerea (Coq.) is a univoltine parasite of bertha armyworm, Mamestra configurata Wlk., on rapeseed in the Prairie Provinces of Canada. Details of the parasite’s seasonal life history are presented. Females oviposit on third, fourth, fifth, and sixth instars of bertha armyworm, and the parasite larvae usually develop gregariously and mature on the fifth and sixth instars. Supernumerary parasite larvae on superparasitized hosts starve; surviving larvae develop more rapidly, form smaller pupae with a lower capacity for survival, and eventually produce a consistently though not significantly smaller percentage of female adults than parasites that develop on non-superparasitized hosts. Larvae of A. cinerea are often killed if they compete with larvae of Banchus flavescens Cress., the only other common parasite of bertha armyworm, and a small percentage of the pupae of A. cinerea are killed by a hyperparasitic ichneumonid, Phygadeuon subfuscus Cress.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benson, J.F. 1973. Intraspecific competition in the population dynamics of Bracon hebetor Say (Hymenoptera:Braconidae). J. Anim. Ecol. 42: 105124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breeland, S.G. 1958. Biological studies on the armyworm, Pseudaletia unipuncta (Haworth), in Tennessee (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). J. Tenn. Acad. Sci. 33: 263347.Google Scholar
Bucher, G.E. and Bracken, G.K.. 1976. The bertha armyworm, Mamestra configurata (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Artificial diet and rearing technique. Can. Ent. 108: 13271338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elsey, K.D. and Rabb, R.L.. 1970. Biology of Voria ruralis (Diptera:Tachinidae). Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 63: 216222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guppy, J.C. 1967. Insect parasites of the armyworm, Pseudaletia unipuncta (Lepidoptera:Noctuidae), with notes on species observed in Ontario. Can. Ent. 99: 94106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ives, W.G.H., Turnock, W.J., Buckner, C.H., Heron, R.J., and Muldrew, J.A.. 1968. Larch sawfly population dynamics: techniques. Man. Ent. 2: 536.Google Scholar
Landis, B.J. and Howard, N.F.. 1940. Paradexodes epilachnae, a tachinid parasite of the mexican bean beetle. Tech. Bull. U.S. Dep. Agric. 721. 31 pp.Google Scholar
Leonard, D.E. 1968. Effects of density of larvae on the biology of the gypsy moth, Porthetria dispar. Entomologia exp. appl. 11: 291304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salt, G. 1961. Competition among insect parasitoids. Symp. Soc. exp. Biol. 15: 96119.Google Scholar
Saunders, D.S. 1975. Manipulation of the length of the sensitive period, and the induction of pupal diapause in the flesh-fly, Sarcophaga argyrostoma. J. Ent. (A) 50: 107118.Google Scholar
Schaffner, J.V. Jr. and Griswold, C.L.. 1934. Macrolepidoptera and their parasites reared from field collections in the northeastern part of the United States. Misc. Publs. U.S. Dep. Agric. 188. 160 pp.Google Scholar
Skoptsov, A.G. 1968. Intraspecific relations of insects living in groups. Nature 218: 880882.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wylie, H.G. 1965. Discrimination between parasitized and unparasitized house fly pupae by females of Nasonia vitripennis (Walk.) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Can. Ent. 97: 279286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wylie, H.G. 1966. Some mechanisms that affect the sex ratio of Nasonia vitripennis (Walk.) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) reared from superparasitized housefly pupae. Can. Ent. 98: 645653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wylie, H.G. and Bucher, G.E.. The bertha armyworm, Mamestra configurata Walk. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Mortality of immature stages on the rape crop, 1972–1975. Can. Ent. in press.Google Scholar