Preference of Campoletis perdistinctus for Certain Noctuid Larvae123

Abstract

Mated adult females of Campoletis perdistinctus (Viereck) were confined together in one or more of 4 laboratory tests and I field-cage test with 3- to 4-day-old larvae of the noctuids: beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hubner); bollworm, Heliothis zea (Boddie); cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hubner); fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith); southern armyworm, Prodenia eridania (Cramer); tobacco bud worm, H. virescens (F.); and yellowstriped armyworm, Prodenia ornithogalli Guenee. The bollworm, fall armyworm, and tobacco budworm were the most preferred hosts in all laboratory tests, whereas the cabbage looper was the least preferred host, and no parasite cocoons were produced from larvae of the beet armyworm. Also, rates of parasitization were greater when the hosts were confined in chambers containing cotton plants than in chambers containing an artificial diet. In the field-cage test, considerably more parasite cocoons were formed from larvae of the bollworm and the tobacco bud worm than from the cabbage looper and the southern armyworm. Thus, laboratory and field-cage tests indicated that the bollworm and tobacco budworm were among the most preferred noctuid hosts of C. perdistinclus . Consequently, these noctuids should be the major ovipositional site [or the parasite if it were to be used in an inundative release program against cotton pests.