Self-Provisioning with Paralyzed Hosts and Age, Density, and Concealment of Hosts as Factors Influencing Parasitization of Ephestia cautella (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) by Bracon hebetor Say (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The frequency with which Bracon hebetor Say parasitized Ephestia cautella (Walker) increased with the age and density of hosts and was reduced by the concealment of hosts within peanut hulls. Some of the larvae escape parasitization by crawling away before the onset of paralysis, and these larvae remain suitable as hosts if discovered within a few weeks. When various levels of this self-provisioning were simulated, provision of paralyzed hosts clearly increased parasitization as much as a similar increase in the density of native hosts. Predictive models developed for the natural rate of self-provisioning with paralyzed hosts and the rate of utilization of these paralyzed hosts were used to estimate the rate of accumulation of paralyzed hosts in an ongoing population.