Biology of Acerophagus texanus (Howard, 1898) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), a parasitoid of Ferrisia virgata Cockerell (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)

Acerophagus texanus (Howard) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) is a primary endoparasitoid of Ferrisia virgata Cockerell (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae). The parasitoid was described in 1898. It has been little studied and much of its biology remained unexplored. In the present investigation, several biological aspects of this species, such as the life cycle, fecundity, and longevity were studied under laboratory conditions. The parasitoids were collected from rambutan trees infested with F. virgata in Chiapas, Mexico, and transferred to the laboratory to establish a colony. Insects used in the experiments were obtained from a mass rearing of this colony. The results indicated that A. texanus is a koinobiont, gregarious endoparasitoid, with a pre-ovipositional period of 3 days. The life cycle from egg to adult, was 15 ± 0.4 days at 26.5 ºC. The mean longevity of females fed on bee honey was 9.5 ± 1.2 days, whereas unfed females survived for two days only. Hosts parasitized by A. texanus died four days after parasitization, just when entering the 2nd larval instar of the parasitoid. The average progeny produced by mated females was 12.6 individuals per host, and the sex-ratio was biased to females in a proportion of 5:1. Unmated females can reproduce parthenogenetically, producing only males as progeny.