Age depended host maruca vitrata fabricius (lepidoptera: crambidae) selection by parasitoid apeneteles taragame viereck (hymenoptera: braconidae)

Apanteles taragamae Viereck (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a gregarious(Peter and Davide 1092) larval parasitoid of a Cowpea pod borer Maruca vitrata Fabircius ( Lepidoptera: Cranmbidae),which is serious pest of flower and pods of cowpea Vigna unguiculata Walp( Lieguminosae: Fabaceae). However, some reports about A. taragamae specified that it parasitized five other Pyraloidea species (Peter and Divide 1992; Mohan and Sathiamma 2007) in India. The larvae of most pyraloidea species feed on living plants both internally or externally as leaf rollers, leaf webbers, leaf miners, borers, root feeders, and seed feeders A. taragamae show non distractive host feeding habits, means that host used for feeding by adult A. taragame is different than host used for oviposition. It utilizes two different kind of host for completion of life cycle, Infestation at rate of one M.vitrata larva in cowpea plants can cause 10%yield loss. Leberton, Labarussuas, C. Chevrier and Darrouzet) A. taragame has been identified as promising agent for biological control of M. vitrata. Reproductive potential of A.taragamae was studied with respect to age of it’s host. Age group 3-12 day old were susceptible for progeny production, 8 day old host larvae subjected to victimized at maximum, 70-50% parasitization. While, 1 to 2 day old and 13 to 18 day old hosts remained un-parasitized. The study conducted at laboratory conditions [24 +/-1”C, 55-60% R.H., 12 hr. photoperiod], by above experiment we conclude that A. taragame will be helpful for biological control of M. vitrata