NONDEVELOPMENT OF COTESIA-KARIYAI (HYMENOPTERA, BRACONIDAE) IN ENTOMOPOXVIRUS-INFECTED LARVAE OF PSEUDALETIA-SEPARATA (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE)

Interaction between an entomopoxvirus (PsEPV) and a gregarious braconi d endoparasitoid, Cotesia Kariyai, in Pseudaletia separata larvae show ed that infection of larvae with PsEPV was deleterious to the developm ent and survival of C. kariyai. The survival and development of C. kar iyai in PsEPV-infected P. separata larvae depended on the length of ti me between parasitization and viral infection. No parasitoid larvae em erged from PsEPV-infected hosts when host larvae were exposed simultan eously to parasitization and PsEPV inoculation whereas more than 80% o f the hosts produced parasitoids when PsEPV was administered 5 days po stparasitization. C. kariyai larvae in PsEPV-infected hosts showed a r etarded development, shrank, and died about 8 days after viral exposur e. Virion-free plasma from PsEPV-infected P. separata larvae was toxic to the parasitoid larvae even up to a dilution level of 32 when it wa s injected intrahemocoelically into the host larvae. Development of pa rasitoids in hosts that were simultaneously parasitized and injected w ith the virion-free plasm never progressed beyond the egg stage. The p arasitized P. separata larvae injected with the virion-free plasma did not pupate and died within 30 days after injection. (C) 1998 Academic Press.