Characteristics of the Oviposition of a Parasitoid, Chrysis shanghaiensis (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae)

Abstract

Observations and experiments were carried out indoors to clarify some features of the oviposition of Chrysis shanghaiensis. The behavior of oviposition was described. It took 62.5 min on an average to lay an egg. The female wasp laid at most three eggs a day, and 28.7 eggs during her whole life. She did not attack host cocoons on days when the maximum temperature in the rearing room was less than 22°C. When the host inside the cocoon was dead, the female laid no egg in the cocoon. There was no difference between cocoons with a prepupa and those with a pupa in the probability of the wasp's laying an egg, the survival rate of the wasp during the egg to pupal stages, or the body size of the adult wasp which emerged. © 1987, JAPANESE SOCIETY OF APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY. All rights reserved.