The phenologies of Cotesia urabae, Dolichogenidea eucalypti (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and their host Uraba lugens (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in the Adelaide region

A field study was undertaken to determine the phenologies of the solitary larval endoparasitoids Cotesia urabae and Dolichogenidea eucalypti in relation to that of their bivoltine host Uraba lugens. C. urabae had two generations within both the summer and the winter generation of U. lugens, and D. eucalypti had two generations in the summer but only one generation in the winter. D. eucalypti parasitised a narrower range of host sizes in the field. Both parasitoids attacked recently hatched (typically 1st instar) or 'small hosts' at the beginning at each host generation. In summer D. eucalypti was the first to emerge from hosts, but both D. eucalypti and C. urabae, emerged from hosts which had modes of 0.85-1.05 mm in head capsule width and 0.9-1.5 mg in dry weight (mid hosts). In winter, C. urabae emerged from hosts which had modes of 1.15 mm in head capsule width and 2.7 mg in dry weight (large hosts). Both species in summer, and C. urabae in winter, then proceeded to parasitise hosts of around these sizes to commence second parasitoid generations. In its second generation in summer and its first generation in winter, D. eucalypti typically emerged after most unparasitised hosts had pupated. Both species of parasitoid overwintered within the larval stage of their host. Levels of parasitisation appeared to be low, and dropped between first and second generations within each host generation. It was concluded that C. urabae and D. eucalypti displayed continuity of generations and a high level of synchronisation with U. lugens in the Adelaide region.