Acceptability of different Lepidoptera species to the egg parasitoid T. armigera

This experiment was conducted in two phases. First, under no- choice conditions, eggs of seven different lepidopteran species (C. ig- nefusalis, C. cephalonica, E. kuehniella, H. albipunctella, H. armigera, N. blitealis and S. cerealella) were exposed to newly emerging T. armigera mated females. Eggs (N = 125) of each species were glued on a card (7.5 cm × 2.5 cm) and placed in a vial, together with 5 mated T. armigera females for 48 h. A total of 32 cards/species, representing 32 replicates, were prepared. This first experiment was followed by another set of experiments under no-choice and multiple-choice conditions with 4 different species (C. ignefusalis, C. cephalonica, H. armigera and H. albipunctella). Under no-choice conditions, the eggs of the 4 different species were kept se- parate in different vials and infested with one mated T. armigera female. For each species, 30 eggs were glued on a separate card, placed in a vial and confined with one mated T. armigera female for 48 h. A total of 24 cards/species, representing 24 replicates, were prepared. Data on parasitism was recorded. Under the multiple-choice condition, 30 eggs of each of the 4 different species (C. ignefusalis, C. cephalonica, H. ar- migera and H. albipunctella) were all glued on a single card (7.5 cm × 2.5 cm) and given to newly emerged T. armigera mated fe- males to parasitize. Eggs of the 4 species were not mixed together; eggs of each species were glued on one corner of the card. The cards were put individually in a vial and confined with one mated T. armigera fe- male for 48 h. A total of 20 cards in 20 vials representing 20 replicates were prepared. The vials were incubated until the emergence of the new generation of T. armigera adults. Data on parasitism was recorded