Laboratory Study of Competition Between Blepharipa pratensis and Parasetigena silvestris (Diptera: Tachinidae) in Lymantria dispar (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae)

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Abstract
Competition between two tachinid parasites, Parasetigena silvestris (Robineau-Desvoidy) and Blepharipa pratensis (Meigen), initiated in instar 4 of Lymantria dispar L., resulted in a significant, 65% reduction in B. pratensis survival as measured by maggot emergence. When multiparasitism is initiated in instar 5 or 6, competitive advantage is held by the species that infests the host first. In instars 5 and 6, P. silvestris survival is reduced by about 67% when B. pratensis infests first. In instar 5, B. pratensis survival is reduced by about 50%, and in instar 6 by about 73% when P. silvestris infests first. In addition, depending upon host instar and sequence of parasite attack, significant numbers (10–50%) of host larvae died without parasite emergence.

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