Resumen

BESERRA, Eduardo B.  y  PARRA, José R. P.. Parasitism behavior of Trichogramma atopovirilia Oatman & Platner and Trichogramma pretiosum Riley (Hymenoptera, Trichogrammatidae) in Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) egg masses. Rev. Bras. entomol. [online]. 2003, vol.47, n.2, pp. 205-209. ISSN 0085-5626.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0085-56262003000200009.

The parasitism behavior of Trichogramma atopovirilia and T. pretiosum in Spodoptera frugiperda eggs was evaluated focusing on the features related to the associative learning (alpha conditioning) and recognition of the egg parasitized by the female after the first oviposition experience. Females of both species were observed to recognize the parasitized egg, which takes place after the female drills into the host egg. Following oviposition, 43.59% and 67.53 of females began to feed with an average feeding time of 73.26 ± 11.57 and 64.04 ± 7.05 seconds for T. atopovirilia and T. pretiosum, respectively. The time elapsed in each step of the parasitism behavior significantly decreased after the first oviposition experience, with a trend to stabilize after the 2^nd or 3^rd egg parasitized, indicating associative learning in these Trichogramma species.

Palabras llave : Egg parasitoid [fall armyworm]; Egg parasitoid [learning]; Egg parasitoid [parasitization].