Southwestern Corn Borer: 1 Suitability of Larval Stages for Development of the Tachinid Parasite, Lixophaga diatraeae2 , 3

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Abstract
Maggots of Lixophaga diatraeae (Townsend) entered 1st- through 5th-stage larvae and prepupae of the southwestern corn borer (SWCB), Diatraea grandiosella Dyar, but fewer maggots completed development in this species than in 3rd- and 5th-stage larvae of the sugarcane borer, D. saccharalis (F.) The difference was due both to high mortality of the 1st-stage SWCB larvae and to encapsulation of the maggots by other stages of SWCB. Some larvae of all SWCB host stages molted after maggots were applied. Most maggots emerged from 3rd-stage larvae that had been parasitized in 1 st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-larval stages. Reciprocal mating of moths that were determined to contain encapsulated maggots with moths from unparasitized larvae resulted in viable eggs and fecundity comparable to that of normal moths. Superparasitism with 2, 3, or 7 maggots on 5th-stage SWCB larvae overwhelmed the host encapsulation mechanism, and parasite maggots could complete development.

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