Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T19:23:01.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Seasonal abundance of the banana skipper, Erionota thrax (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) and its parasitoids in a commercial plantation and a subsistence farm in Penang, Malaysia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2006

Justin N. Okolle ,
Mashhor Mansor  and
Abu Hassan Ahmad
Justin N. Okolle*
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Minden, Penang, Malaysia
Mashhor Mansor
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Minden, Penang, Malaysia
Abu Hassan Ahmad
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Minden, Penang, Malaysia
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

To characterize the population dynamics of Erionota thrax Linnaeus and its major parasitoids, biweekly samplings were carried out in a commercial Cavendish banana plantation and a subsistence farm of local varieties, from April 2004 to November 2005. Five primary endoparasitoids were recorded: Ooencyrtus erionotae Ferriere, Cotesia erionotae Wilkinson, Brachymeria albotibialis Hoffmann, Elasmus sp. and Melaloncha sp. Ooencyrtus erionotaeC. erionotae, and B. albotibialis were, respectively, the major egg, larval and pupal parasitoids. In 2004, there was no significant difference in the E. thrax population densities and parasitism of immature life stages in both farms. In 2005, the pest population densities were significantly different, while only egg and larvae parasitism rates were significantly different. In the commercial plantation, peaks of E. thrax population densities per banana mat were recorded in April, June, July, and October–December and highest values for eggs, larvae and pupae were 4.66, 2.76 and 1.7, respectively. Percentage parasitism peaked in August, October, and February with peak values ranging from 60 to 100%. In the subsistence farm, peak E. thrax population densities were observed between May–July and September–December. Percentage parasitism peaked in January, February, July, August, October and November, with peak values ranging from 24 to 100%. Correlations between population densities of E. thrax and the numbers of parasitized insects showed strong positive relationships. There was evidence of a delayed density dependence of the parasitoids as most peaks of parasitism appeared 1 or 2 months after those of the host stages. Parasitism rates in the commercial plantation were substantial in spite of the frequent use of insecticides, and activities of the parasitoids were more favoured in the subsistence farm compared with the commercial plantation.

Résumé

Un échantillonnage a été réalisé toutes les deux semaines, d'avril 2004 à novembre 2005, dans une plantation industrielle de bananiers de la variété Cavendish et dans une plantation artisanale de bananiers locaux, afin de suivre la dynamique des populations d'Erionota thrax Linnaeus et de ses principaux parasitoïdes. Nous avons trouvé cinq espèces d'endoparasitoïdes primaires: Ooencyrtus erionotae Ferriere, Cotesia erionotae Wilkinson, Brachymeria albotibialis Hoffmann, Elasmus sp., et Melaloncha sp. Ooencyrtus erionotaeC. erionotae et B. albotibialis sont respectivement les plus importants parasitoïdes des oeufs, des chenilles et des chrysalides. En 2004, les densités de population d'E. thrax et les taux de parasitisme larvaire n'étaient pas significativement différents entre les deux fermes. En 2005, les densités de populations étaient significativement différentes et seuls les taux de parasitismes des oeufs et des larves étaient différents. Dans la plantation industrielle, les pics de densité de population par pseudotige ont été enregistrés en avril, juin, juillet et octobre–décembre avec des valeurs maximales d'oeufs, de chenilles et de chrysalides de 4,66, 2,76 et 1,7 respectivement. Les plus forts taux de parasitisme ont été enregistrés en août, octobre et février avec des valeurs maximales comprises entre 60 et 100%. Dans la ferme artisanale, les pics de densité d'E. thrax ont été observés entre mai–juillet et septembre–décembre et les pics de parasitisme en janvier février, juillet, août octobre et novembre avec des valeurs maximales comprises entre 24 et 100%. Une forte corrélation positive a été établie entre les densités de population d'E. thrax et le nombre d'insectes parasités. On a pu montrer l'existence d'une relation de densité dépendance du parasitisme, avec un décalage de 2 mois, entre les pics du ravageur et des parasitoïdes. Dans la plantation industrielle, les taux de parasitisme étaient importants malgré l'épandage fréquent d'insecticides. Toutefois, l'action des parasitoïdes était plus efficace dans la plantation artisanale que dans la plantation industrielle.

Keywords

bananasHesperiidaeErionota thraxparasitoidsOoencyrtus erionotaeCotesia erionotaeBrachymeria albotibialispopulation dynamicsbananiersHesperiidaeErionota thraxparasitoïdesOoencyrtus erionotaeCotesia erionotaeBrachymeria albotibialisdynamique des populations
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Tropical Insect Science , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , September 2006 , pp. 197 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © ICIPE 2006

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

Ahmad, Y. and Balasubramaniam, A. (1975) Major Crop Pests in Peninsular Malaysia. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Malaysia. 177 pp.Google Scholar
Chiang, H. (1988) Bionomics and control of banana skipper, Erionota torus Evans, in Taiwan. Chinese Journal of Entomology, Special Publication 2, 167–174.Google Scholar
Christie, A. W., Sands, D. and Yarrow, W. H. T. (1989) A new threat – the banana skipper. Queensland Agricultural Journal 115, 80–81.Google Scholar
Clausen, C. P. (1940) Entomophagous Insects. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York. 688 pp.Google Scholar
Corbet, A. S. and Pendlebury, H. M. (1992), pp. 330–345. In The Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula (Edited by Eliot, J. N.), Fourth Edition Revised. Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Google Scholar
DeBach, P. (1964) Biological Control of Insect Pests and Weeds. Chapman and Hall, London. 844 pp.Google Scholar
de Kraker, J., van Huis, A., Heong, K., van Lenteren, J. C. and Rabbinge, R. (1999) Population dynamics of rice leaffolders (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) and their natural enemies in irrigated rice in the Phillippines. Bulletin of Entomological Research 89, 411–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleming W. A. (1983) Butterflies of West Malaysia and Singapore. Revised by Alix McCartney. Longman Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. 148 pp.Google Scholar
Fowler, J., Cohen, L. and Jarvis, P. (1998) Practical Statistics for Field Biology. Second Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, England. 257 pp.Google Scholar
Gold, C. S., Pinese, B. and Pena, J. E. (2002) Pests of bananas, pp. 13–55. In Tropical Fruit Pests and Pollinators (Edited by J. E. Pena, J. L. Sharp and M. Wysoki). CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon.Google Scholar
Gould, J. R., Elkinton, J. S. and Van Driesche, R. G. (1992) Assessment of potential methods of measuring parasitism by Brachymeria intermedia (Nees) (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) of pupae of the gypsy moth. Environmental Entomology 21, 394–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasyim, A., Hasan, N., Syafril, and Herlion, (1994) Parasitoids of the banana skipper; Erionota thrax (L.) in Sumatera Barat, Indonesia, with notes on their life history, distribution and abundance. Tropics 3, 131–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalshoven, L. G. E. (1981) Pests of Crops in Indonesia. P. T. Ichtiar Baru-Nun Hoeve, Jakarta. 701 pp.Google Scholar
Karamura E. A. and Gold C. S. (2000) The elusive banana weevil Cosmopolites sordidus Germar. Acta Horticulturae 540 ISHS 11, 447–484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khoo, K. C., Ooi, P. A. C. and Ho, C. T. (1991) Crop Pests and Their Management in Malaysia. Tropical Press Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia. 233 pp.Google Scholar
Liu, S. S., Wang, S. G., Guo, S. J., He, J. H. and Shi, Z. H. (2000) Seasonal abundance of the parasitoid complex associated with the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) in Hangzhou, China. Bulletin of Entomological Research 90, 221–231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maramis, T. D. R. (2005) Contribution of several generalist parasitoids from host insect Erionota thrax (Lepidoptera: Hersperiidae) on its habitat. PhD thesis, Available from http:digilib.bi.itb.ac.id/go.php.Google Scholar
Mau, R. F. L., Murai, K., Kumashiro, B. and Teramoto, K. (1980) Biological control of the banana skipper, Pelopidas thrax (Linnaeus), (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) in Hawaii. Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society 23(2), 231–238.Google Scholar
Okolle, J. N., Mansor, M. and Abu Hassan, A. (2004) Preliminary survey of the banana leaf roller, Erionota thrax. In Harnessing Research to Improve Livelihoods Proceedings of the First International Congress on Musa, 6–9 July, 2004, Penang, Malaysia. International Network for the Improvement of Bananas and plantains, France. 177 pp.Google Scholar
Okolle, J. N., Mansor, M. and Abu Hassan, A. (2006) Spatial distribution of banana skipper (Erionota thrax L.) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) and its parasitoids in a Cavendish banana plantation, Penang, Malaysia. Insect Science 13, 237–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prasad, B. and Singh, O. L. (1987) Insect pests of banana and their incidence in Manipur. Indian Journal of Hill Farming 1, 71–73.Google Scholar
Sands D. P. A., Sands M.C. and Arura M. (1991) Banana skipper Erionota thrax (L.) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae), a new pest in the South Pacific Region. Micronesia, supplement 3, 93–98.Google Scholar
Sands, D. P. A., Bakker, P. and Dori, F. M. (1993) Cotesia erionotae (Wilkinson) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), for biological control of banana skipper, Erionota thrax (L.) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) in Papua New Guinea. Micronesia 4, 99–105.Google Scholar
Van Driesche, R. G. (1983) Meaning of ‘percent parasitism’ in studies of insect parasitoids. Environmental Entomology 12, 1611–1622.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Driesche, R. G. and Bellows, T. S. (1988) Host and parasitoid recruitment for quantifying losses from parasitism, with reference to Pieris rapae and Cotesia glomerata. Ecological Entomology 13, 215–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Driesche, R. G., Bellows, T. S., Elkinton, J. S., Gould, J. R. and Ferro, D. N. (1991) The meaning of percent parasitism revisited: Solutions to the problem of accurately estimating total losses from parasitism. Environmental Entomology 20, 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterhouse D. F. and Norris K. P. (1989) Erionota thrax, Supplement 1, 88–99. In Biological Control: Pacific Prospects. ACIAR Monograph No. 12.Google Scholar
Waterhouse, D., Birribi, D. and David, V. (1998) Economic benefits to Papua New Guinea and Australia from biological control of banana skipper (Erionota thrax). CSIRO Division of Entomology, Australia. 36 pp.Google Scholar
Welesoh, R. M. and Anderson, J. F. (1982) Releases of Brachymeria lasus and Coccygomimus disparis, two exotic gypsy moth parasitoids, in Connecticut: Habitat preference and overwintering potential. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 75, 46–50.Google Scholar
Yeo L. P. and Zakaria H. (2001) Pisang – Penyakit dan perosak utama dalam penanaman Pisang. Aventis Crop Science Sdn. Bhd. PP 11537/8/2001. Terbitan No. 14 (in Bahasa Malaysian).Google Scholar
Yusuf, E. (2005) Population dynamics of banana skipper (Erionota thrax) in West Java, Indonesiawww.ees.hokudai.ac.jp/old/semi/oshirase040910.htm. Accessed 24/11/2005.Google Scholar
Zhang, Y., Li, W. and Huang, D. (2005) A taxonomic study of Chinese species of Ooencyrtus (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). Zoological Studies 44, 347–360.Google Scholar