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The activity of parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) of cereal aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in winter and spring in southern England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

W. T. Vorley
W. T. Vorley
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Building 44, The University, Southampton, SO9 5NH, UK
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Abstract

Indirect and direct measures of parasitoid activity were taken in grassland and autumn-sown cereals in southern England between 1979 and 1981. Studies of anholocyclic aphid populations in the winter months were followed through to parasitism of the main pest species, Sitobion avenae (F.), during the period of population increase in April and May. Aphidius spp. parasitized artificially-established colonies of cereal aphids in ryegrass in every month between December and May of both seasons, but there was no Aphidius activity until March-April in winter cereals sown early enough to receive an autumn input of aphids and parasitoids, apparently due to the small amount of physiological time that accumulates before temperatures drop in the winter months. A. rhopalosiphi De Stefani Perez and A. picipes (Nees) were completely dominant over other parasitoid species in the winter and spring period. Natural populations of Aphidius adults and parasitized aphids were low (<2/m2) in both winters, and percentage parasitism of S. avenae measured by dissection in March and April did not exceed 11·7%. Rates of S. avenae parasitism in many winter wheat fields peaked in May, before the peak and rapid decline in aphid populations. The significance of winter and spring parasitoid activity to the survival of the parasitoid and effects on pest aphid peaks are discussed.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 76 , Issue 3 , September 1986 , pp. 491 - 504
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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