Effects of entomopoxvirus infection in Pseudaletia separata (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on the development of a pupal parasitoid, Brachymeria lasus (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae)

Abstract

The effects of entomopoxvirus infection in Pseudaletia separata on the development of a pupal parasitoid, Brachymeria lasus, were investigated under laboratory conditions. Surviving fifth-stadium P. separata larvae infected with the P. separata entomopoxvirus (PsEPV) exhibited extended developmental time in the prepupal phase after molting to the last stage. Although about half of the PsEPV-infected larvae pupated, greater than half of those pupae were incompletely pigmented in the first abdominal segment and failed to develop into adults. Infection of P. separata pupae with PsEPV was detrimental and adversely affected the development of B. lasus. Parasitoid emergence was inversely related to prepupal duration. Significantly fewer parasitoids emerged from PsEPV-infected pupae, and these parasitoids spent an additional day or two in pupae with a longer prepupal phase. This lower rate of survival was due to a large number of parasitoid imagos having died in the PsEPV-infected pupae, which was a function of prepupal duration. There was little or no growth in parasitoids developing in PsEPV-infected pupae with a longer prepupal phase.