Parasitism of Eggs in Chrysoperla Carnea (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) by Telenomus Acrobates (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) in Apple Ochards in Van, Turkey

Abstract

A two year study of the parasitoids attacking Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens 1836) in apple orchards in the Van region, Turkey, revealed the activity of the egg and pupal parasitoids Telenomus acrobates Giard 1895 (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) and Dichrogaster sp (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), respectively. In general, the population of C carnea increases after the first week of July in the apple orchards studied and parasitoids migrate to the orchards after the arrival of the predator, then both of them remain in the orchards throughout the season. Fluctuations in numbers of parasitized eggs generally follow the abundance of C carnea eggs. Overall, seasonal egg parasitism varied between 3.9% and 55.6% depending on the orchards and the years. Compared with the egg parasitism, low numbers of Dichrogaster sp were obtained from the C carnea pupae and the pupal parasitism was 9.5% throughout the season. According to our results, the parasitism affected the effectiveness of C carnea. However, additional factors affecting the effectiveness of green lacewing against pests, and the effects of treatments against it and its natural enemies should be evaluated in IPM programs.