Abstract

RODRIGUEZ LEYVA, Esteban; GOMEZ TOVAR, Victoria; BARCENAS ORTEGA, Nina M.  and  LEYVA VAZQUEZ, Jorge L.. Efecto de diferentes factores sobre la cría de Callosobruchus maculatus (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) para la producción de Catolaccus spp. (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Acta Zool. Mex [online]. 2002, n.86, pp.87-101. ISSN 2448-8445.

This work describes how to maintain a stock of cowpea weevil, Callosobruchus maculatus (F.), and how to produce larvae for use as factitious hosts for Catolaccus grandis (Burks) and C. hunteri Crawford, parasitoids of boll weevil and pepper weevil, respectively. The weevils are two of the main pest of these crops in the American continent. This methodology was developed to rear the parasitoids in the laboratory, and to improve production of cowpea weevil larvae. We evaluated factors such as quantity and size of broken chick pea, type of rearing container and number of ventilation holes. It was determinated that the best treatment among 14 combinations of factors tested at 25 ± 2 ºC, was a 4 L rearing container with 1 kg of coarsely broken chick pea and one ventilation hole of 50 cm². After 25 or 30 days, it was possible to harvest larvae on 2 or 3 times from each container, and it is recommended that harvesting does not extend for more than one week. After 7 d the chick pea from the container should be discarded because the quantity and quality of larvae diminishes.

Keywords : Augmentative biological control; mass rearing; factitious host; Anthonomus grandis; A. eugenii.

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