Campoletis chlorideae Uchida

Campoletis chlorideae is the most common and key parasitoid of 2nd instar larvae of Helicoverpa armigera throughout India. The larvae once parasitized loose their aggressive damaging capacity and the parasitoids from these emerge when they attain 3rd or 4th instar.

The production procedure for Campoletis chlorideae is more or less similar to Cotesia kazak Telenga.

The exception is that 150 five day old larvae of Spodoptera litura are exposed to 6 females + 3 males. The adults are removed from the jar after 24 hours. Parasitized larvae are removed after 3 days; the unparasitised if any are discarded. The parasitoid maggots hatch in 1 to 1.5 days, the larval and cocoon development is completed in 10-15 and 5-6 days, respectively.

The parasitoid is produced on the young larvae of Helicoverpa armigera and Spodoptera litura. For convenience sake the parasitoid is being mass multiplied on 1st/2nd instar larvae of Spodoptera litura. The problem of adverse sex ratio can be overcome to considerable extent by pairing fresh females with older males such combination produces more number of females.