Abstract
Muscidifurax zaraptor (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is a host feeding synovigenic parasitoid of the pupae of Diptera that breed in animal filth. In a laboratory experiment, we compared the numbers of eggs matured over 3 days by females under three treatments: host feeding on houseflies (Musca domestica L.), sugar feeding, and starvation. Starved females resorbed eggs. Host-fed females matured eggs at a constant rate whether they were newly emerged, had been previously starved for 3 days, or had been previously sugar-fed for 3 days. After 3 days of host feeding, females carried approximately 20 mature eggs. Sugar-fed females neither increased nor decreased the numbers of eggs they carried over 3 days, but how many eggs they carry depends greatly on previous diet. No change in the numbers of eggs under sugar feeding occurs because the rates of maturation and resorption are probably equal when hosts are not available for feeding or oviposition.
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