Biological assessment in quarantine of Semielacher petiolatus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) as a potential classical biological control agent of citrus leafminer, Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), in Florida

The biology of Semielacher petiolatus Girault (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), a parasitoid imported from Italy as a potential classical biological control agent of citrus leafminer, Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), was studied in quarantine in Florida. Development time, adult longevity, total fecundity, host mortality, and host-size choice were investigated by providing third-instar larval citrus leafminers as hosts. Development time was significantly different between the sexes (9.1-9.5 days for females and 8.4-8.7 days for males) at 25 °C, but was not affected by host condition, i.e., singly parasitized, superparasitized, and fed on concurrently with parasitism. Longevity was 25 days for females and 26 days for males in the presence of water and honey. Longevity was 19 and 16 days, respectively, when hosts and mates were provided. Females of S. petiolatus on average began to feed on hosts 1.3 days after emergence and started to oviposit 1.7 days after host feeding, averaging 28 hosts fed on, 78 hosts parasitized, and 10 hosts both fed on and parasitized, for a total of 116 eggs. Host feeding appears to be essential for egg maturation because there was a linear correlation between the numbers of hosts fed on and fecundity. When hind tibia length was plotted against adult longevity and daily fecundity, no significant correlation was found. An average of 22% self superparasitism was observed even though excess unparasitized hosts were provided. S. petiolatus generally used smaller hosts for feeding, medium sized ones for parasitizing, and larger ones for both feeding and parasitizing.