CRUZ, I.

DIAS, A. M. P.

FIGUEIREDO, M. de L. C.

REDOAN, A. C. M.

SILVA, R. B. da

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OCCURRENCE AND BIOLOGY OF TETRASTICHUS HOWARDI(OLLIFF) (HYMENOPTERA: EULOPHIDAE) IN DIATRAEASACCHARALIS (FABR.) (LEPIDOPTERA: PYRALIDAE)Maria de Lourdes Correˆa Figueiredo1Ivan Cruz1; Rafael Braga da Silva2; Ana Carolina Maciel Redoan1; Ange´lica Maria Penteado - Dias1Embrapa Milho e Sorgo, Laborato´rio de Criac¸a˜o de Insetos, Sete Lagoas, MG. ivancruz@cnpms.embrapa.br; figueiredomlc@yahoo.com.br;ac.redoan@gmail.com2Programa de Po´s - graduac¸a˜o em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Universidade Federal de Sa˜o Carlos, SP. rafaelentomolo-gia@yahoo.com.br; angelica@ufscar.brINTRODUC¸A˜ODiatraea saccharalis (Fabr.) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)is a key pest of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.)and has also become a very important pest for cornand sorghum in Brazil (Cruz, 2007). Due to its mainhabit of feeding inside the plant stalk, conventional con-trol measures through chemical foliar spraying have notachieved sufficient control levels. In sugarcane fieldsin Brazil the control of this pest is achieved throughthe release of natural enemies. Biological control pro-grams for D. saccharalis in Brazilian regions, coveringa total area of 2.3 million hectares, have been imple-mented with the parasitoids Cotesia flavipes Cameron(Hymenoptera: Braconidae), Metagonistylum minenseTowns and Paratheresia claripalpis Wulp (Diptera: Ta-chinidae) (Botelho, 1992). Tetrastichinae is the largestsubfamily of Eulophidae with hosts in more than 100families of insects of different orders (La Salle 1994, LaSalle and Schauff 1995). Tetrastichus howardi (Olliff)(Hymenoptera; Chalcidoidea: Eulophidae) is a grega-rious pupal parasitoid which has been recorded as aprimary parasitoid or facultative hyperparasitoid asso-ciated with a great number of Lepidoptera pest speciesof important crops (Baitha et al., 2004, Prasad et al.,2007, La Salle and Polaszek 2007).OBJETIVOSThis study reports the occurrence of T. howardi frompupa of D. saccharalis collected in maize stalks in Bra-zil. It also includes preliminary data about the insectbiology.MATERIAL E ME´TODOSRoutine surveys in maize fields were conducted in SeteLagoas, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Diatraea saccha-ralis were collected at different phases of development,during November 2007, resulting in two pupae whichwere parasitized. Specimens of the parasitoid wereidentified by Dra. Ange´lica M. Penteado - Dias andDr. John La Salle as Tetrastichus howardi (Olliff) (Hy-menoptera; Chalcidoidea: Eulophidae). Since then, aculture of this species has been maintained on pupae ofD. saccharalis and Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith)(Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Twenty pupae of D. saccha-ralis obtained from larvae reared on artificial diet wereplaced in individual test tubes (10 imes 2.5 cm, closedwith cotton) together with one female and one maleof T. howardi for a 24 h period. Pupae were replaceddaily for four consecutive days. After each 24 h periodthe parasitized pupae were removed to other similartubes and kept in the same environment in which theywere previously. After emergence, parasitoids were se-xed and counted. The data were analyzed by one - wayAnalysis of Variance (ANOVA) through the computerX Congresso de Ecologia do Brasil, 16 a 22 de Setembro de 2011, Sa˜o Lourenc¸o - MG 1program SISVAR (Ferreira 2000) and treatment meanswere compared with the Scott - Knott test (p = 0.05)(Scott and Knott 1974).RESULTADOSThe average number of parasitoids which emerged fromeach D. saccharalis pupa was 66.4 ± 22.7, 36.0 ± 11.0,21.3 ± 12.3 and 47.7 ± 28.0, for days one to four of theexperiment, respectively. The number of parasitoidsobtained in the first day was higher than that obtai-ned in the remaining days (p ¡ 0.05). There was nodifference between the number of parasitoids obtainedfrom infestation held in the second and fourth day (p ¿0.05). The sex ratio was strongly female biased at 0.81± 0.12. The life cycle of the parasitoid (considered theperiod from oviposition to adult emergence) was 25.5± 3.2 days. The longevity of male (4.3 ± 1.0 days) waslower than the longevity of female (10.0 ± 1.0 days) (p¡ 0.05). According to Moore and Kfir (1995), 35% offemale T. howardi lay eggs in the first 24 h after emer-gence. After 48 h that index was up to 80%. Mooreand Kfir (1995) concluded that T. howardi has a pre- oviposition period varying of 2 h to five days. Theparasitoid also did not show any preference for the ageof the host pupa, when comparing pupae from one tofive days old of the species C. partellus and Helicoverpaarmigera (Hu¨bner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) (Mooreand Kfir 1995b). Males of T. howardi emerge first andstay close to the host pupa waiting the emergence ofthe females to mate, as pointed out by Gonza´lez et al.,(2003). However, Moore and Kfir (1995) observed that35.3% of emerged females which were separated frommales at emergence still produced both female and maleoffspring, indicating mating inside the host pupa beforethe female emerged. Unfertilized female produce onlymale offspring. Tetrastichus howardi is a primary pa-rasitoid or facultative hyperparasitoid associated withinsect pests of the order Lepidoptera, especially vari-ous cereal stem borers. These include D. saccharalis,as well as important pests which do not currently occurin Brazil, such as Eldana sp. (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)(La Salle and Polaszek 2007, Moore and Kfir 1995, Po-laszek and LaSalle 1995).CONCLUSA˜OThe species T. howardi, found in association with thecorn borer D. saccharalis in Brazil, can be an additio-nal option for the integrated pest management in thosecrops where the insect is a key pest such as the sugar-cane, corn and sorghum.[Acknowledgements: To Brazilian Institute of Scienceand Technology - Hymenoptera Parasitoid of SoutheastRegion (HYMPAR/Sudeste CNPq/FAPESP/CAPES)and FAPEMIG, for the financial support. Thanks toDr. John La Salle for helping in species identification.]REFEREˆNCIASBaitha, A.; Jalali, S. K.; Rabindra, R. J.; Venkate-san, T.; Rao, N. S. 2004. Parasitizing efficiency of thepupal parasitoid, Tetrastichus howardi (Olliff) (Hyme-noptera: Eulophidae) on Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) atdifferent exposure periods. Journal of Biological Con-trol. 18: 65 - 68. Botelho, P. S. M. 1992. Fifteen yearsof biological control of Diatraea saccharalis using para-sitoids. Pesquisa Agropecua´ria Brasileira. 27:255 - 262.Cruz, I. 2007. The Sugarcane Borer, Diatraea sacchara-lis, in corn in Brazil. 12p. Embrapa - CNPMS, Sete La-goas. (Embrapa - CNPMS (Circular Te´cnica, 91). Fer-reira, D. F. 2000. SISVAR system for statistical analy-sis: a handbook for guidance. 37p. UFLA, Lavras.Gonza´lez, J. F. A.; Oca, F. N. M.; Ravelo, H. G. 2003.Bio - ecological studies of Tetrastichus howardi Olliff.(Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), pupal parasite of Diatraeasaccharalis (Fabr.) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) in Cuba.Centro Agricola. 30: 37 - 41. La Salle, J. 1994. NorthAmerican genera of Tetrastichinae (Hymenoptera: Eu-lophidae). Journal of Natural History. 28:109 - 236. LaSalle, J.; Polaszek, A. 2007. Afrotropical species of theTetrastichus howardi species group (Hymenoptera: Eu-lophidae). African Entomology. 15:45 - 56. La Salle, J.;Schauff, M. E. 1995. The Chalcidoid families. Eulophi-dae. In: Hanson, P.E.; Gauld, I.D. (eds.). The Hyme-noptera of Costa Rica. Oxford University Press, NewYork, NY, USA. Moore, S.D.; Kfir, R. 1995. Aspectsof the biology of the parasitoid, Tetrastichus howardi(Olliff) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Journal of Afri-can Zoology. 109: 455 - 466. Prasad, K.S.; Aruna,A.S.; Kumar, V.; Kariappa, B.K. 2007. Feasibility ofmass production of Tetrastichus howardi (Olliff), a pa-rasitoid of leaf roller (Diaphania pulverulentalis), onMusca domestica (L.). Indian Journal of Sericiculture.46: 89 - 91. Scott, A. J.; Knott, M. A. 1974. A clusteranalysis method for groupingmeans in the analysis ofvariance. Biometrics. 30:507 - 512.X Congresso de Ecologia do Brasil, 16 a 22 de Setembro de 2011, Sa˜o Lourenc¸o - MG 2

Occurrence and biology of Tetrastichus howardi (Olliff) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) in Diatraea saccharalis (Fabr.) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae).

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