Abstract:

Suitability of 10 candidate insects as substitute hosts for mass rearing of Scleroderma sichuanensis Xiao was systematically tested by inoculating the wasp on the hosts directly or after anaesthetized with different anaesthetics in the laboratory.  The tested hosts included Callidium villosulum Fairmaire, Semanotus sinoauster Gressit, Bacchisa dioica (Fairmaire), Anoplophora chinensis (Forster), Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée), Sesamia inferens (Walker), Dichocrocis punctiferalis Guenée, Chinolyda flagellicornis (Smith), Tenebrio molitor L. and Musca domestica vicina Macquart. The parasitization rate, the wasp emergence rate (%), the immature duration of the wasp, the female proportion in offspring (%), the fecundity and the survival rate(%) of female wasps kept at 8-10℃ and 50%-60% RH were compared for the wasps inoculated on different hosts. The results showed that of above indices, only two indices, i.e. the parasitization rate and the wasp emergence (%), might have  significant difference between different hosts or the same hosts with different anaesthetic treatments and could reflect the substitute host suitability.  Two proper substitute host species, i.e. O. furnacalis and T. molitor, for breeding S. sichuanensis were selected from the 10 tested hosts, which laid a foundation for mass rearing and application of S. sichuanensis.

Key words: Scleroderma sichuanensis, Tenebrio molitor; Ostrinia furnacalis, mass rearing, substitute host, host suitability