Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
The parasites known to attack the black-headed budworm in Alaska and the relative importance of each species are presented. A key for the identification of parasite adults and notes on the bionomics of each species are given. The list of parasites includes 16 species, contrasting sharply with the 48 species reported from coastal British Columbia. Only two species, Triclistus pallipes Holmg. and Meteorus argyrotaeniae Johansen, appear in the Alaskan complex that do not also appear in the list from British Columbia. Trichogramma minutum Riley, the only egg parasite, caused up to 22% mortality. Four species attacking various larval instars caused 2 to 72% mortality within single larval collections. Two pupal parasites, Itoplectis quadricingulatus (Prov.) and Phaeogenes arcticus Cush., were reared from 10 to 31% of pupae collected in the field.