EFFECT OF SOME KAIROMONES AND PHEROMONES ON 2 HYMENOPTEROUS PARASITOIDS APANTELES-RUFICRUS AND MICROPLITIS-DEMOLITOR (HYM, BRACONIDAE)

Kairomones and two sex pheromones were tested on two larval parasitoid s, Apanteles ruficrus and Microplitis demolitor. Adult females of A. r uficrus were attracted to the kairomone extracted from the host larvae , Agrotis ipsilon. At the same time, the synthetic sex pheromone of A. ipsilon revealed a strong kairomonal effect on the adult females of t he parasitoid. Similar effects were obtained with M. demolitor when th e kairomone extracted from Spodoptera littoralis was used. In field ex periments, A. ipsilon and S. littoralis kairomones significantly raise d the rate of parasitism from 5.6 and 11.8% in control plots to 19.5 a nd 26% in treated plots by A. ruficrus and M. demolitor, respectively. Meanwhile, kairomones extracted from larvae of Autographa ni and S. e xigua showed less effect on the two tested parasitoids.