Parasitism Capacity of Telenomus remus Nixon (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) on Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Eggs

This work studied the parasitism capacity of Telenomus remus Nixon (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) on Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith) (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) eggs at 15, 20, 25, 28, 31, and 35 C, aiming to use this natural enemy in biological control programs in crops where S. frugiperda was considered pest. The parasitism during the first 24 h was 60.90, 81.65, 121.05, 117.55 and 108.55 parasited eggs per female from egg masses of approximately 150 eggs, at 15, 20, 25, 28 and 31 degrees C, respectively. Females of T. remus reached parasitism higher than 80% at 15, 20, 25, 28 and 31 degrees C at 5, 27, 8, 2, and 2 days, respectively. At 35 degrees C, there was no parasitism. The highest parasitism rates occurred at 20, 25, 28 and 31 degrees C. T. remus female longevity varied from 15.7 to 7.7 days from 15 to 31 degrees C. The highest tested temperature (35 degrees C) was inappropriate for T. remus development. At that temperature, female longevity was greatly reduced (1.7 +/- 0.02) and egg viability was null. All T. remus survival curves were of type I, which showed an increase in mortality rate with time.