European Journal of Entomology

Precocious activity of parasitoids is a key factor for cereal aphid control. We investigated the oviposition, flight and walking capacities at low temperature of four aphid parasitoids (Aphidius rhopalosiphi, A. ervi, Praon volucre, P. gallicum) on one of their aphid hosts (Sitobion avenae). Oviposition behaviour was tested at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15 and 20°C, under a photoperiod of 12 h light. Some females of A. rhopalosiphi oviposited at 6°C while the percentage of parasitization below 10°C remained low for the other species. The proportion of males decreased with temperature for A. ervi, P. volucre and P. gallicum but not for A. rhopalosiphi. For all species, flight and walking activities increased with temperature, Aphidius species being active at lower temperature than Praon species. Field captures showed that the activity threshold for A. rhopalosiphi is 12°C, 15°C for A. ervi and P. volucre, and 19.5°C for P. gallicum. These results are discussed regarding the potential of these four species for aphid control.

Address
Université catholique de Louvain, Centre de recherche sur la biodiversité, Unité d'écologie et de biogéographie, Place Croix du Sud 4–5, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; e-mail: hance@ecol.ucl.ac.be

Keywords
Flight activity, walking activity, temperature threshold, oviposition, Aphidius sp., cereal aphid, spring activity