Encarsia formosa parasitizing the Poinsettia‐strain of the cotton whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, on Poinsettia: bionomics in relation to temperature

Abstract Adult longevity, developmental time and juvenile mortality of Encarsia formosa Gahan (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) parasitizing the Poinsettia‐strain of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) on Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd.) were investigated in laboratory experiments at three temperatures: 16 °C, 22 °C and 28 °C. Furthermore, the parasitoid's preference for different larval stages of the whitefly was determined at 24.5 °C. The lifespan of E. formosa decreased with temperature from one month at 16 °C to nine days at 28 °C. A lower temperature threshold of 11 °C for adult development was found. The development of juvenile parasitoids in B. tabaci lasted more than two months at the lowest temperature, but was only 14 days when temperature was 28 °C. The lower temperature threshold for immature development was 13.3 °C, yielding an average of 207 day‐degrees for the completion of development into adults. Juvenile mortality was high, varying from about 50% at 16 °C to about 30% at 22 °C and 28 °C. E. formosa preferred to oviposit in the 4th instar and prepupal stages of B. tabaci followed by the 2nd and 3rd instars. The preference for the pupal stage was low. The parasitoid used all instars of the whitefly for hostfeeding, with no apparent differences between the stages. The average duration of the oviposition posture was four minutes. Demographic parameters were calculated from life tables constructed from the data. The intrinsic rate of increase (rm) and the net reproductive rate (R0) increased with temperature from 0.0279 day−1 at 16 °C to 0.2388 day−1 at 28 °C and from about 12 at 16 °C to about 66 at 28 °C, respectively.