Laboratory studies were conducted on the effect of temperature and host instar on lifetime and age-specific fertility of honey-fed and starved adults of Venturia canescens Gravenhorst (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) parasitizing larvae of Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). The relationships between the number of progeny produced with adult longevity and body size also were investigated. Highest mean fertility of honey-fed wasps was recorded at 20°C, followed, in decreasing order, by 25, 30, and 15°C, with most offspring emerging during the first 5 d. In contrast, temperature did not have a strong effect on progeny production in the case of starved adults. Provision of adult parasitoids with honey resulted in a significant increase in production of total offspring at all temperatures. Wasps that parasitized second-instar hosts produced significantly fewer descendants than those that oviposited in third- to fifth-instar hosts, which produced similar numbers of offspring. Interactions between temperature and feeding were significant. The total number of offspring produced by honey-fed adults increased with longevity and body size, regardless of temperature or host instar. Conversely, number of progeny produced by starved wasps was correlated only with body size.
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biological control
fertility
offspring
parasitoid
stored products