REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TRICHOMALOPSIS SPECIES (HYMENOPTERA, PTEROMALIDAE), A PARASITE OF FILTH FLIES

A Trichomalopsis sp. near americana was colonized from eastern Nebrask a and was evaluated for its potential as a biological control agent ag ainst house flies. Maturation within the host puparium required 13 day s at 30-degrees-C and 16 days at 25-degrees-C. Essentially no maturati on occurred at 20-degrees-C, and 10 days at 20-degrees-C was sufficien t to induce arrested development in the third instar in about 67% of t he parasites. Trichomalopsis sp. is gregarious and prefers to oviposit repeatedly on single hosts even when other hosts are readily availabl e. Females are capable of producing 10-12 eggs per day and a total of about 110 eggs when adequate hosts and a carbohydrate source are avail able. This species is not considered to have high potential as a biolo gical control agent because of its preference to sting only 2-3 hosts per day, its relatively low fecundity, and its low incidence in nature . (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.