Age-Specific Interaction Between the Greenhouse Whitefly 1 and Encarsia formosa:2 Influence of the Parasite on Host Development

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Abstract
The life cycle of the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood, consists of an egg stage, 4 nymphal instars, and an adult. It is convenient to divide the 4th stage into 3 substages: the “early” 4th instar, the transitional substage, and the unemerged pharate adult. The developmental rate of 2nd, 3rd, and “early” 4th whitefly nymphal instars, parasitized by Encarsia formosa Gahan, does not differ significantly from that of unparasitized hosts. However, developing parasites arrest whitefly development during the transitional and pharate adult substages of the 4th stage.