Determination of egg and adult parasitoid species of Eurydema ornatum L. (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) in Denizli, Manisa and Uşak provinces

Cabbage beetle, Eurydema ornatum (L.) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), is one of the important pests of the Brassicaceae family that sucks the sap of plants, especially cabbage, cress, radish and rapeseed. Under natural conditions, there are not enough studies on the natural enemies of the Tachinidae (Diptera) family, which are adult parasitoids, and Scelionidae (Hymenoptera), which are egg parasitoids, on the population of this pest. For this reason, it was aimed to determine the parasitization rates of E. ornatum adults and eggs in Denizli, Manisa and Uşak provinces in 2019 and 2021. Adult individuals were collected by hand between March and October in both years and eggs were collected on host plants between April and October in the same years. After separating the adult individuals according to their sexes, the male and female individuals were cultured separately in different containers under laboratory conditions. In the first year, 327 in Denizli, 565 in Manisa, 530 in Uşak, and in the second year 497,605 and 570 E. ornatum individuals, respectively, were included in the trials. The tachinids pupae obtained from these samples were taken into separate tubes and kept in an incubator at 26 ± 1 oC, 60% ± 10% humidity and 16 hours of illumination until adults parasitoids emerge from them. As a result of the studies, it was understood that the adult individuals collected in the first year were parasitized at a rate of 4,83% (n = 327) in Denizli, 8,30% (n = 565) in Manisa, 5,01% (n = 530) in Uşak, and 6,77%(n = 497), 6,70%(n = 605) and 5,13% (n = 570) in the second year, respectively. Because of the experiments, it was determined that female individuals parasitized at a higher rate. Collected egg masses belonging to the pest were taken on the plants and kept in separate tubes under laboratory conditions until nymph or parasitoids emerged. It was determined that 46,94% (n = 49) of the egg masses collected in the first year and 44,90% (n = 98) in the second year were parasitized by egg parasitoids. As adult parasitoids, Ectophasia oblonga (Robineau-Desvoidy), Ectophasia crassipennis (Fabricius) (Diptera: Tachinidae) species, as egg parasitoids Trissolcus semistriatus Nees, Trissolcus rufiventris Mayr (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) and Ooencyrtus sp. (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) species have been identified. Thus, it has been understood that tachinids and egg parasitoids have a significant effect on the E. ornatum population under natural conditions.