PARASITOID AND ITS HOSTS

BRACONID
COMMON NAME: BRACON

SCIENTIFIC NAME: BRACON SPP

TYPE:
EGGS, LARVAE, PUPA AND ADULT PARASITOID

HOSTS:
ANTS, APHIDS, ARMYWORMS, BEETLE LARVAE, BOLLWORMS, CABBAGEWORMS,
CATERPILLARS, CODLING MOTHS, CORN BORERS, CUTWORMS, IMPORTED TENT
CATERPILLARS, LEAFHOPPERS, LEAFMINERS, MAGGOTS, MIDGES, PLANT BUGS, SCALES,
TOMATO HORNWORMS, WEEVILS.

Bracon spp
 Very generally, the braconid life cycle begins when the female wasp deposits her eggs in the
host insect, and the braconid larvae emerge and develop within the host insect's body. When
the wasp larvae are ready to pupate, they may do so in or on the host insect (which is well on its
way to dying if it hasn't succumbed to the parasitoids already.) The new generation of adult
braconid wasps emerges from their cocoons and begins the life cycle again.

Braconid wasps that kill hornworms are larval parasitoids. The female braconid wasp deposits
her eggs inside the hornworm caterpillar's body. As the wasp larvae develop and feed inside the
caterpillar. When they're ready to pupate, the braconid wasp larvae chew their way out of their
host, and spin silk cocoons on the caterpillar's exoskeleton. The tiny adult wasps emerge from
these cocoons a short time later.

The affected caterpillar may continue to live as the braconid wasps are developing inside its body,
but it will die before it can pupate. So while the current generation of caterpillars may have already
munched your tomato plants down to the stems, they won't survive to become reproductive adults.

How Braconid Wasps Kill Their Hosts

Braconid wasps use a remarkable weapon to disable the defenses of their host insects – a virus.
These parasitic wasps coevolved with polydnaviruses, which they carry and inject into the host
insects along with their eggs. The polydnaviruses have no negative affects on the braconid wasps,
and reside within cells in the wasp ovary.

When the braconid wasp deposits eggs in a host insect, she also injects the polydnavirus. The
virus is activated in the host insect, and immediately goes to work disabling the host's defenses
against intruders (the intruders being the braconid wasp eggs). Without the virus running
interference, the wasp eggs would quickly be destroyed by the host insect's immune response.
The polydnavirus allows the wasp eggs to survive, and the wasp larvae to hatch and begin feeding
inside the host insect.

Braconid wasps infected hornworms. Hornworms attacks tomatoes

CORN EARWORM (Larva) (Adult)

CORN EARWORM attacked corn

COTESIA

SCIENTIFIC NAME: COTESIA SPP.

TYPE: LARVA PARASITOID

HOSTS:
ARMYWORM, BOLLWORM, CABBAGE LOOPER, CABBAGEWORM, CELERY LOOPER, CORN EARWORM,
CUTWORM, DIAMONDBACK MOTH, GYPSY MOTH, HORNWORM, STEMBORER, TOBACCO BUDWORM,
WEBWORM
Cotesia is a genus of braconid wasps first described by Peter Cameron in 1891. Some species
parasitize caterpillars of species considered as pests. Thus they are used
as biocontrol agents. Cotesia congregata parasitizes the tomato and the tobacco hornworms. C.
glomerata and C. rubecula feed on the cabbage white and other white butterfly caterpillars. C.
gonopterygis and C. risilis are host-specific and parasitize the common brimstone
The genus is particularly noted for its use of polydnaviruses. Parasitoids are distinct from true
parasites in that a parasitoid will ultimately kill its host or otherwise sterilize it.

Life cycle
Adult wasps lay their eggs in tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) larvae in their 2nd or 3rd instar
(each instar is a stage between moltings, i.e. the second instar is the life stage after the
first molt and before the second molting) and at the same time injects symbiotic viruses into
the hemocoel of the host along with some venom. The viruses knock down the internal defensive
responses of the hornworm. The eggs hatch in the host hemocoel within two to three days and
simultaneously release special cells from the egg's serosa. These special cells,
called teratocytes, grow to become giant cells visible to the naked eye. The teratocytes secrete
hormones which work in tandem with the virus and the wasp venom to arrest the development of
the host.[2] Following hatching in the caterpillar, the wasp larvae will undergo 2 molts inside the
host caterpillar’s hemocoel and, after 12 to 16 days post oviposition, the 3rd instar wasp larvae
will emerge from the caterpillar and spin cocoons from which the adult wasps fly about 4 to 8 days
later.[3]
This insect has the shortest flagellated spermatozoa in animals, being 6.6 µm long (nucleus and
flagellum), 8800 times shorter than the longest ones (Drosophila bifurca).

COTESIA FLAVIPES COTESIA SESAMIAE

 COTESIA CONGREGATA COCOONS OF COTESIA

DIAMOND BACK MOTH (Adult) (Larva)

CABBAGE ATTACKED BY DBM

COTESIA INJECTING EGGS ON DIAMOND BACK MOTH LARVAE

 DIADEGMA

COMMON NAME: DIADEGMA WASP, DIADEGMA

SCIENTIFIC NAMES:
Diadegma semiclausum, Diadegma insulare, Diadegma mollipla, Diadegma fenestral
TYPE: LARVA PARASITOID
HOSTS:
CABBAGE DIAMONDBACK MOTH, POTATO TUBER MOTH, CABBAGE WEBWORM

These wasps are found in cruciferous crops, overwintering as a cocoon. The number of
generations per year corresponds to the number of generations of its hosts: Hellula
undalis (F.), Plutella armoracia Bsk., and P. xylostella (L.), the diamondback moth

Male Diadegma insulare (Cresson), a parasitoid wasp, and mature larvae of the diamondback
moth, Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus)

Egg: The egg is clear, and is hard to distinguish from the host's fat body when it is dissected.
Unlike Cotesia plutella, another parasitoid of the diamondback moth, the egg is rounded rather
than pointed and lacks a projection.
Larva: The larva of D. insulare is white and can be noticed more easily in a dissected host due
to its extensive movements. It looks strongly segmented and bears a short (1/4 of the total length
of the larva) narrow "tail".

Pupa: The larva of D. insulare stays inside the diamondback moth larva until the latter spins a
cocoon and is ready to pupate. Once emerged, D. insulare's larva spins its own cocoon inside the
cocoon of the moth.
Figure 4. Pre-pupa of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus), inside the cocoon.

Figure 5. Larva of Diadegma insulare (Cresson), a parasitoid wasp, spinning its cocoon inside
the cocoon of a diamondback moth.
Figure 6. Cocoon of Diadegma insulare (Cresson), a parasitoid wasp

Adult: The length of this wasp does not exceed 6 mm. The female has a well defined ovipositor.

Figure 7. Male Diadegma insulare (Cresson), a parasitoid wasp. Photograph by Andrei

Sourakov, Florida Museum of Natural History.
 ENCARSIA

Common name: Encarsia, Whitefly Parasite

Scientific Name: Encarsia spp
TYPE: LARVA PARASITOID
HOSTS: VARIOUS WHITEFLY SPECIES

Encarsia is a tiny insect with clear wings ,which seeks out whitefly scale and deposits an egg
inside it. As the beneficial Encarsia develops INSIDE the whitefly scale, the whitefly is destroyed
and turns black, before a new Encarsia emerges ready to repeat the cycle.
Each Encarsia is capable of laying 300 eggs inside 300 whitefly scales in 30 days. It is safe for
you, children, pets and wildlife. Food crops such as tomotoes can be harvested continually, where
Encarsia is used.
A few species are known to parasitize aphids, eggs of shield-back bugs (Plataspidae), and eggs
of Lepidoptera. Females mostly develop as primary endoparasitoids, and males are commonly
hyperparasitoids of the same or other species

The Encarsia population is at least 98% female, so all wasps can parasitise whiteflies.
WHITEFLY

You'll often see whiteflies in mid- to late-summer when it gets warm; they are also a common pest
in greenhouses. Whiteflies tend to suck on ornamentals and warm-weather vegetable plants,
including tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and okra. They also like sweet potatoes and plants from
the cabbage family

WHITEFLY (ADULT) (LARVAE)

ENCARSIA DEPOSITS EGGS ON WHITEFLY LARVAE

 TACHINID FLY

COMMON NAME: DIPTERA

SCIENTIFIC NAME: BOMBYLIOPSIS ABRUPTA, LIXOPHAGA SP
TYPE: LARVAE PARASITOID
HOSTS:
APHIDS, ARMYWORMS, BEETLES, BOLLWORM, BUGS, CABBAGE LOOPER, COTTON
STAINER, CUTWORM, GRASSHOPPERS, HORNWORM, LEAFHOPPERS, MOLE CRICKETS,
MOTHS, SAWFLIES, SCALE INSECTS, STEM BORERS, STICK INSECTS.

Tachinid fly, (family Tachinidae), any member of a family of insects in the fly order, Diptera. Adult
tachinids superficially resemble houseflies. Most species range in size from 2 to 18 mm (0.08 to
0.7 inch) and are hairy and dull gray or black. Some are metallic green or blue. Larvae are internal
parasites of other insects.
Tachinids are of great importance in the control of destructive insects, particularly caterpillars and
beetle larvae.

Certain tachinid flies attach eggs to their victim’s exoskeleton. When they hatch, the larvae
burrow through the exoskeleton. Others deposit living larvae either directly upon the host or in
situations that allow the larvae to attach to passing insects. Some species lay their eggs on
vegetation that is then eaten by caterpillars. Tachinid maggots (larvae) usually breathe by an
opening through the host’s body wall or by contact with its respiratory system. The larvae may
enter the transformation stage (pupa) within the host or may leave the host to pupate. Most
tachinid larvae destroy their hosts, but others do not. Many adult tachinids (e.g., Paradejeania)
obtain nectar from flowers, thus serving as pollinators
HOST
Noctuidae and Pyralidae including the cabbage looper, alfalfa looper, fall armyworm, and
variegated cutworm. Erynnia tortricis attacks various species of lepidoptera in the Tortricidae
family including amorbia, codling moth, obliquebanded leafroller, omnivorous leafroller, oriental
fruit moth, peach twig borer, pink bollworm, and sunflower moth. Erynniopsis antennata is a
parasite of the elm leaf beetle.

CABBAGE LOOPER CABBAGE LOOPER ON TOMATO

DAMAGED OF CABBAGE LOOPER ON CABBAGE CABBAGE LOOPEER PARASITIZED BY TACHINID FLY

 TRICHOGRAMMA

COMMON NAME: TRICHOGRAMMA, TRICON

SCIENTIFIC NAME: TRICHOGRAMMA SPP
TYPE: EGG PARASITES

HOSTS:
PARASITIZE EGGS OF OVER 200 SPECIES OF MOTH AND CATERPILLARS. AMONG THESE
ARE RICE AND CORN STEMBORER, CABBAGE WORM, TOMATO HORNWORM, CODLING
MOTH, CUTWORM, ARMYWORM, WEBWORM, CABBAGE LOOPER, FRUITWORMS AND
SUGARCANE BORERS.

Trichogramma is a genus of minute polyphagous wasps that are endoparasitoids of insect

eggs.[1] Trichogramma is one of around 80 genera from the family Trichogrammatidae, with over 200
species worldwide
Although several groups of egg parasitoids are commonly employed for biological control throughout
the world, Trichogramma spp. have been the most extensively studied
Trichogramma wasps are small and very uniform in structure, which causes difficulty in identifying the
separate species. As females are all relatively similar, taxonomists rely upon examination of males to
tell the different species apart, using features of their antennae and genitalia

Parasitism
To locate host eggs, adult females use chemical and visual signals, such as egg shape and
colour.[3] After she finds a suitable egg, an experienced female attempts to determine if the egg has
previously been parasitized, using her ovipositor and antennal drumming (tapping on the egg surface).
Females also use antennal drumming to determine the size and quality of the target egg, which
determines the number of eggs the female will insert.[7] A single female can parasitize up to 10 host
eggs a day.
HOST
The cotton bollworm is a highly polyphagous species.[6] The most important crop hosts are tomato,
cotton, pigeon pea, chickpea, rice, sorghum, and cowpea. Other hosts include groundnut, okra, peas,
field beans, soybeans, lucerne, Phaseolus spp., other Leguminosae, tobacco, potatoes, maize,
flax, Dianthus, Rosa, Pelargonium, Chrysanthemum, Lavandula angustifolia, a number of fruit trees,
forest trees, and a range of vegetable crops.[1] In Russia and adjacent countries, the larvae populate
more than 120 plant species, favouring Solanum, Datura, Hyoscyamus, Atriplex,
and Amaranthus genera.

COTTON BOLLWORM

COTTON BOLLWORM (ADULT) COTTON BOLLWORM ON TOMATO

 EGGS OF COTTON BOLLWORM

TRICHOGRAMMA PARASITIZED COTTON BOLLWORM EGG

~END~

PREPARED BY:
JERWIN C. VIRGO, Lic.Agr., LPT