Estimating parasitoid immature mortality by comparing oviposition and pupal development of Trichogramma galloi Zucchi and T. pretiosum Riley on natural and factitious hosts.

Mortality during the immature development of T. galloi and T. pretiosum was estimated on UV-killed and live eggs of a factitious and a natural host, respectively. A staining technique was used to determine the actual parasitization of UV-treated eggs and was compared with the number of parasitoids that emerged per host egg (detectable parasitization). Effects of temperature as a factor of mortality during the immature development of both parasitoids on the factitious host was also assessed. The actual and detectable parasitization of live hosts was measured by recording both the parasitization behavior and the number of eggs where a parasitoid developed successfully. Our data show that mortality during immature development of both parasitoids may occur in live eggs of the natural host. No such mortality was observed when parasitoids developed on UV-killed eggs of the factitious host. Possible causes of parasitoid immature mortality and the effects of using UV-treated eggs of factitious hosts in estimating the parasitism capacity of Trichogramma in field conditions are discussed.