The Effects of Temperature and Host Stage on Development Rate of Parasitoids of Giant Whitefly Aleurodicus dugesii (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)

Abstract

Abstract The effects of rearing temperature and host stage parasitized on the development of three parasitoid species; Encarsia noyesi Hayat (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), Idioporus affinis LaSalle & Polaszek (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), and Entedononecremnus krauteri Zolnerowich & Rose (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) were investigated. These parasitoids are part of the biological control program for the giant whitefly Aleurodicus dugesii Cockerell (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in the United States. Temperature and host-dependent development was assessed for each species using the nonlinear Brière-1 model and simple linear regression to obtain critical thermal parameters. All three parasitoids successfully developed at constant temperatures ranging from 15°C to 30°C, which was narrower to their predicted thermal limits due to thermal constraints of A. dugesii. There were significant effects of both temperature and A. dugesii nymphal stage parasitized on immature parasitoid development times. All three parasitoid species’ development time decreased as nymphal stage age increased. Thermal tolerance limits and development times varied by parasitoid species. The results of these findings in the context of biological control potential are discussed.