Effect of Maruca vitrata （Lepidoptera： Crambidae） host plants on life-history parameters of the parasitoid Apanteles taragamae （Hymenoptera： Braconidae）

The effect of four host plant species of the herbivore Maruca vitrata Fabri- cius （Lepidoptera： Crambidae） on development time, longevity, fecundity and sex ratio of the parasitoid Apanteles taragamae Viereck （Hymenoptera： Braconidae） was investi- gated under laboratory conditions. The larvae were parasitized when in the second instar. Maruca vitrata larvae were fed with flowers of four legumes, that is, Vigna unguiculata （cowpea）, Sesbania rostrata, Lonchocarpus sericeus and Pterocarpus santalinoides, or an artificial diet both before and after parasitization. The parasitoid did not develop in hosts feeding on L. sericeus or E unguiculata at 25℃, or on P. santalinoides at 25℃ or 29℃. Apanteles taragamae had the shortest development time on artificial diet at both 25℃ and 29℃ while the longest development time was recorded on L. sericeus at 29℃. Female wasps took longer to develop compared to males at the two temperatures, regardless of the feeding substrate of their host. The longevity of the wasps at 25℃ varied among feeding substrates, but not at 29℃. Survival rate of parasitized larvae depends on the feeding sub- strate. Moreover, infection of host larvae with Maruca vitrata multi-nucleopolyhedrovirus （MaviMNPV） killed larger proportions of parasitized larvae at 25℃ than at 29℃, which was likely caused by the difference in parasitoid developmental rate. The proportion of female parasitoids was lowest on L. sericeus. The daily fecundity showed a nonlinear trend regardless of the feeding substrate, indicating that A. taragamae is a pro-ovigenic species. The data support the slow growth-high mortality hypothesis.

Molecular differentiation of the microgastrine species commonly found in paddy fields from Southeast Asia,with additional data on their phylogeny （Hymenoptera：Braconidae）

Partial DNA sequences of three genes, that is, mitochondrial large ribosomal subunit (16S), nuclear large ribosomal subunit (28S D2) and mitochondrial NADH1 dehydrogenase (NADH1) gene, were sequenced from different microgas trine species(Braconidae: Microgastrinae) collected fresh from paddy fields. The DNA sequences were used to determine the extent of sequence variation among species in order to evaluate the specific status of each species. Cladistic analysis was also used to infer a phylogenetic relationship among these species. The results showed that sequence divergence among species of the same genus Cotesia was much lower than those among different genera, such as Cotesia, Exoryza and Apanteles; the sequence similarity of 16S rDNA and NADH 1 genes between Cotesia sp. and C. chilonis was higher than that between C. sp. and C. ruficrus.Phylogenetic analyses suggested that four species of Cotesia were always grouped in the same clade regardless of using different analysis methods; Cotesia sp. and C. chilonis are more closely related to each other than to C. ruficrus, different from previous morphological results. Additionally, sequence analyses indicated that NADH1 gene has more parsimony informative characters than 28S rDNA D2 and 16S rDNA at the species-level analysis,indicating that NADH1 gene might be a useful marker for species-level analysis.