Author： WESELOH RONALD M.
Publisher： Entomological Society of America
ISSN： 1938-2901
Source： Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Vol.64, Iss.5, 1971-09, pp. : 1050-1057
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Abstract
The behavioral responses of females of Ooencyrtus kuwanai (Howard), an encyrtid egg parasitoid of the gypsy moth, Porthetria dispar (L.), to humidity, temperature, gravity, and light were investigated. The parasitoid oriented to the drier of 2 humidity choices at moderate temperatures, but toward higher relative humidities at high temperatures. Its behavior in a temperature gradient indicated that a preferendum between 20–30 °C exists, but the broadness of the responses observed and the parasitoid's tendency to accumulate at the cold end made more detailed inferences impossible. Females exhibited negative geotaxis both in the dark and in the light (though to a greater degree in the former) and at different temperatures. They were also positively phototactic under different lighting conditions, temperatures, humidities, and physiological states. Only when exposed to host egg masses before tests were run was a definite neutral photoresponse observed, and at no time was negative phototaxis exhibited. The results are discussed as they relate to the microhabitat distribution of the parasitoid in nature.
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