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Aenasius arizonensis Girault, 1915 (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) is a primary parasitoid species of Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae). Some biological characteristics of A. arizonensis at different temperatures were studied to evaluate its potential role against P. solenopsis in biological control. Six temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30, 35±2, and 25/35±2 °C) were studied to determine the most suitable temperature for parasitism. The results showed that the highest parasitism rate (79%) and the optimum developmental time from parasitism to adult emergence (16-17 days) were recorded at 25 °C. Although developmental periods were shorter at 30 and 35 °C, parasitism rate was lower at higher temperatures. The longest developmental period and lowest parasitism rate were recorded at 20 °C.The host preference of A. arizonensis was studied on different mealybug species and this parasitoid parasitized only P. solenopsis. The parasitism behavior of A. arizonensis based on the increasing the number of the host was carried out at 25 °C, where the best results were obtained in terms of parasitism rate during this study. The regression curve showed that A.arizonensis can be classified as Holling Type II. In conclusion, this study revealed that A. arizonensis can be an effective biological control agent to use against P. solenopsis and 25 °C is an optimum temperature for the mass-rearing of this parasitoid. |
