Oviposition Behavior and Development of Goniozus triangulifer Kieffer (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae)

Abstract

Bionomics and behavior of the bethylid parasitoid, Goniozus triangulifer Kieffer, were studied in the laboratory with leaffolders, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenée) and Marasmia patnalis (Bradley), as hosts. Female parasitoids lived twice as long as males (22 and 11 d, respectively) and laid about 80 eggs during their lifetime. Single male broods occurred in 64% of the samples and were significantly more frequent than expected from the binomial distribution only when the brood size was six. Females exhibited complex behavior upon encountering a host. Malaxation occurred before the female parasitoid paralyzed the host. Parasitoids laid an average of 4.5 eggs on unparasitized hosts and 2.4 eggs on previously parasitized ones, but commonly did not lay at all on these. Total handling time for experienced parasitoids on parasitized hosts was significantly shorter than that for unparasitized hosts. G. triangulifer displays the ability to discriminate between unparasitized hosts and those parasitized by conspecific females.