Mating, oviposition, and prey use by larvae of Hypsopygia postflava (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), a moth parasitic on nests of the paper wasp, Polistes jokahamae

Abstract

We investigated the mating, oviposition, and prey use by larvae of Hypsopygia postflava, a moth that is parasitic on nests of the paper wasp, Polistes jokahamae, in the laboratory under natural temperature, humidity, and day-length conditions, and in field cages. Mating occurred mainly from 2300 to 0600 hours, and copulation lasted a mean of 80.4 min. When adult wasps were absent from the nest, female adults of the moth laid eggs singly or in clumps of a few eggs, mainly on the walls of cells containing cocoons with live pupae or pupal exuviae. When adult wasps were present on the nest, wasp attacks prevented female moths from approaching the nest, and so they laid eggs singly or in clumps of several tens around the base of the nest pedicel. Female moths laid a mean of 133.9 eggs during their mean lifetime of 10.7 days. When first-instar larvae were released 10 cm from the base of the nest pedicel, 55% of them arrived in the nest with adult wasps. Moth larvae fed on wasp pupae first, and then on wasp larvae.