Trichospilus pupivorus Ferriere

Trichospilus pupivorus is a gregarious pupal endo-parasitoid and is effective in south Kerala in cooler periods of the year.

The parasitoid is multiplied in glass vials (10 x 2.5 cm). The female is bigger in size than the male. The fertilization of female is accomplished within the host pupae before their emergence. The adult parasitoids are provided with honey as fine droplets on wax coated paper and held in glass vials. Freshly formed 1-2 pupae of Opisina or Corcyra are offered to the female. The parasitised pupae are collected and stored in tubes for adult emergence. The egg to adult stages of Trichospilus pupivorus are completed in 14-16 days (egg 2 days, larval 5-6 days and pupal 7-8 days). The adults live for 2-3 days only. The egg deposition is indiscriminate, maximum of 200 eggs may be laid by the female. The aestivating pupae remain quiescent for about 4-6 weeks. The adult parasitoids emerged in summer are not very potent.

Note: The parasitoid has poor searching ability. It has poor parasitising ability due to its short ovipositor. It has poor dispersive ability and can not parasitise pupae placed in vertical position. It has low tolerance to high temperature and low humidity. It is unable to recognise the parasitised pupae. It is unable to compete with other pupal parasitoids. It can hyperparasitise various tachinids. Part of the population aestivates in pupal stage during March - May.

The parasitoid can be multiplied on many lepidopteran hosts including Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), Spodoptera litura (Fabricius), Spodoptera mauritia (Boisduval), Sylepte derogata (Fabricius), Ergolis merione Cramer and Plusia signata (Fabricius).