Niches and interspecific competitive relationships of the parasitoids, Microplitis prodeniae and Campoletis chlorideae, of the Oriental leafworm moth, Spodoptera litura, in tobacco
1Department of Entomology, College of Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, The People’s Republic of China
2tate Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Center for Management of Invasive Alien Species, Ministry of Agricultural, P. R. China, Beijing 100081, China
3Guangdong Company of Tobacco, Guangzhou, 510030, The People’s Republic of China
Abstract
Both Microplitis prodeniae Rao and Chandry (Hymenoptera: Bracondidae) and Campoletis chlorideae Uchida (Hymenoptera: Ichnumonidae) are major parasitoids of Spodoptera litura (Fabricious) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum L. (Solanales: Solanaceae) at Nanxiong, Guangdong Province, South China. The niches and interspecific competition relationships of the two species were studied. The results show that the competition between the two species for spatial and food resources was very intense, and C. chlorideae was always dominant when the two species compete for spatial and food resources in different periods. Thus C. chlorideae may drive M. prodeniae away when they occupy the same spatial or food resource. The adaptability of C. chlorideae to the environment in the tobacco fields may be greater than that of M. prodeniae, so C. chlorideae can maintain a higher population compared to that of M. prodeniae.
Keywords: Nicotiana tabacum, Helicoverpa assulta, Helicoverpa armigera, biological control, niche
Correspondence: azhongshizhou@yahoo.com, bchenzp@gd.tobacco.gov.cn, c*xuzaifu@scau.edu.cn *Corresponding author
Received: 20 May 2008 | Accepted: 10 August 2008| Published: 2 March 2010
Copyright: This is an open access paper. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed.
ISSN: 1736-2442 | Volume 10, Number 10
Zhou Z-S, Chen Z-P, Xu Z-F. 2010. Niches and interspecific competitive relationships of the parasitoids, Microplitis prodeniae and Campoletis chlorideae, of the Oriental leafworm moth, Spodoptera litura, in tobacco. 12pp. Journal of Insect Science 10:10, available online: insectscience.org/10.10
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