Larvae and pupae of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.)
(Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), were collected weekly for two years on unsprayed
cabbage plots. Samples were taken to the laboratory and parasitoids that emerged
were identified and their incidence determined. Parasitoids were active
throughout the year and parasitism was high (reaching 90-100%) except in the
winter months of June-August when it was low.
Twenty one species were reared: the egg-larval parasitoids Chelonus
curvimaculatus Cameron and Chelonus sp. (Braconidae); the larval
parasitoids Apanteles eriophyes Nixon, Cotesia plutellae
(Kurdjumov), Habrobracon brevicornis (Wesmael) (Braconidae) and
Peribaea sp. (Tachinidae); the larval-pupal parasitoids
Diadegma sp., Itoplectis sp. (Ichneumonidae) and Oomyzus
sokolowskii (Kurdjumov) (Eulophidae); the pupal parasitoids
Brachymeria sp., Hockeria sp. (Chalcididae), Diadromus
collaris Gravenhorst (Ichneumonidae) and Tetrastichus howardi
(Olliff) (Eulophidae); and the hyperparasitoids Aphanogmus fijiensis
(Ferrière) (Ceraphronidae), Brachymeria sp., Hockeria sp,
Proconura sp. (Chalcididae), Mesochorus sp. (Ichneumonidae),
Pteromalus sp. (Pteromalidae), Eurytoma sp. (Eurytomidae) and
Tetrastichus sp. (Eulophidae).
For more information see:
Kfir, R. 1997. Parasitoids of
Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), in South Africa :
an annotated list. Entomophaga 42: 517-523.
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