THE BIOLOGY OF MELANICHNEUMON RUBICUNDUS (CRESS.) (HYMENOPTERA, ICHNEUMONIDAE)

Abstract

In a previous paper the writer slated that only two native parasites, Labrorychus prismaticus (Nort.) and Aplomya caesar (Aldrich), regularly attack the European corn borer, Pyrausta nubilalis (Hubn.) in Canada. Melanichneumon rubicundus (Cress.) is occasionally reared from the corn borer in the Eastern United States and a few adults were received with some adults of the European parasite Phaeogenes nigridens Wesm. A breeding stock was established with a view to possible future liberations in areas in Canada where it has not been recorded. It was found however, that while M. rubicundus will attack the corn borer in the laboratory it does so with such a degree of reluctance that it must be assumed that the attack in the field occurs only in the absence of more desirable hosts. In the laboratory this parasite attacks Loxostege sticticalis (L.) very readily and the data presented herewith are from material reared on Loxostege.