BIOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT OF LESPESIA-ALETIAE (DIPTERA, TACHINIDAE) IN 2 LEPIDOPTERAN SPECIES IN THE LABORATORY

The tachinid Lespesia aletiae (Riley) was obtained from parasitized la rvae of Syntomeida epilais (Walker), which is an arctiid pest of olean der, Nerium oleander (L.). Development of L. aletiae in fifth and sixt h instars of S. epilais and of a noctuid, the fall armyworm, Spodopter a frugiperda (Smith) was determined in laboratory studies. Female L. a letiae flies lived an average of approximately 24 d, 14 days longer th an males, and were observed to oviposit membranous eggs directly on th e host body. First instars cut their way out of the egg and into the h ost within 2 min of oviposition. The percent of successful parasitism in laboratory assays ranged from 36% in fifth instar S. epilais to 65% in sixth instar fall armyworms. Puparial size was found to increase w ith increasing host instar and to decrease with increasing number of m aggots per host. The time between exposure to parasitoids and host dea th was longer in fifth than sixth instars of the same host, and was si gnificantly longer in fifth instar S. epilais than in any other combin ation of host instar and species tested. The parasitoid puparial stage was approximately one day longer for females than it was for males. B oth the fifth and sixth instars of the fall armyworm and S. epilais we re suitable for the parasitoid's development, however, parasitism leve ls and parasitoid survival were higher in fall armyworms.