Sugars are important food sources required by adult parasitoid species to enhance their
survival, fecundity and fitness. The beneficial capacity of Psyttalia concolor Szépligeti, as a biological
control agent of different fruit fly pest species, is expected to increase when different sugar food
sources are supplied. The objective of this study was to test the effect of seven sugars (glucose,
fructose, sucrose, trehalose, melibiose, melezitose and sorbitol) on the longevity and parasitism
capacity of P. concolor. Moreover, we evaluated the effect of two types of honeydew excreted by
hemipteran pests present in olive trees, Saissetia oleae Olivier (Coccidae) and Euphyllura olivina (Costa)
(Psyllidae) on the longevity of the parasitoid. Our results show a positive effect of carbohydrate
(single sugars and honeydew) consumption on parasitoid survival. Female longevity increased when
fed on sorbitol and melibiose, while males benefited from feeding on glucose and fructose, suggesting
that hexose-nectars would benefit males. Sucrose increased the percentage of non-emerged hosts
and parasitism rate while melezitose significantly decreased these percentages, compared to the
other sugars offered. P. concolor benefited more from feeding on honeydew than on sugars, and this
food item can represent an important source of energy for the parasitoid. This result indicates the
importance of specific nutrients for promoting the action of P. concolor against pestsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
