Abstract
ABSTRACT The black inch looper, Hyposidra talaca is considered as a major pest in tea in northern part of West Bengal and North East India. Among the natural enemy reported, Cotesia ruficrus is considered as one of the most gregarious endo-parasitoid wasps. In order to assess the potential of this natural enemy, a study on the biological parameters of C. ruficrus was evaluated on the different developmental stages (second, third and fourth instars) of the host larvae, H. talaca. The results indicated that, the mean duration of larval development was 12.0 ± 0.32, 11.0 ± 0.45 and 9.2±0.37 days in second, third and fourth instar host larvae respectively. The pupal period of C. ruficrus was found to be significantly different among the different larval stages of H. talaca. The successful parasitism of C. ruficrus and the number of cocoon formation of the parasitic wasp was reliant on the stage, body size and the physiological conditions of host larvae that it parasitizes. A maximum of 65.2±1.85 cocoons were formed when the fourth instar host larvae parasitized, followed by 27.2±3.04 in the third instar and 4.6±0.68 in the second instar host larvae. The number of females and males hatched out from each clutch was compared to the different host stages. .
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