Biology of Microplitis feltiae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a Parasite of the Black Cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon1

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Abstract
Microplitis feltiae Muesebeck, a solitary endoparasite of soil-inhabiting cutworms, is recorded for the 1st time from the black cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel), and the bristly cutworm, Lacinipolia renigera (Stephens). It oviposits in 1st to 3rd-stage larvae and emerges from either the 3rd- or 4th-stage larva. Three instars have been observed, the 3rd-stage larva leaving the host to spin its cocoon. At constant temperatures between 15 and 35°C, mean developmental time from egg to adult ranged from 43.4 to 12.6 days. The parasite does not undergo a diapause and utilizes A. ipsilon larvae as its principal overwintering host. It maintains itself on this host and the spring and summer generations of the variegated cutworm, Peridroma saucia (Hübner). Parasitization of A. ipsilon by M. feltiae in 1967 was 24.1%.

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