Effects of Different Diets of a Host, Agria affinis (Fall.) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), on the Development of a Parasitoid, Aphaereta pallipes (Say) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Abstract

Agria [= Pseudosarcophaga] affinis (Fall.) and Aphaereta pallipes (Say) make an excellent host-parasitoid couple for a determination of effects of host diet on a parasitoid. The anatomy, life history, and behaviour of these insects have been described (Salkeld, 1959; Coppel et al., 1959). Moreover, A. affinis can be reared axenically on chemically defined diets and it is readily attacked in the laboratory by A. pallipes, a parasitoid of the onion maggot, Hylemya antiqua (Meig.). This parasitoid deposits eggs into the body cavity of its host and these increase in size: the duration of the egg stage depends on the age of the host larva when parasitized (Salkeld, 1959).