İnvestigation On Some Biological Relations Between Ephestia kuehniella Zell.,Cadra(Ephestia) cautella Walk. And Plodia interpunctella(Hübner)(Lepidoptera:Pyralidae) With Egg Parasitoid Trichogramma pintoi Voegele( Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)

In this study, the biological relationships between the egg parasitoid Trichogramma pintoi Voegele and its hosts Ephestia kuehniella Zell., Cadra (Ephestia) cautella Walk. and Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) were investigated by comparison. The experiments were carried out in the laboratory at 20 ± 1 °C, 25 ± 1 °C and 30 ± 1 °C temperatures, 60 - 70% proportional humidity, 16 hours of light, and 8 hours of darkness. As a result of the research, It was determined that female parasitoids lived on flour moth eggs for longer periods, and they parasitized eggs at a higher rate, and the number of hatching eggs parasitized was higher. As the temperature increased, it was determined that the darkening and hatching times of three different host eggs parasitized by Trichogramma pintoi decreased, and the life span of the adult female was shortened. Moreover, female parasitoids preferred 1-year-old eggs more on all three hosts, and Cadra (Ephestia) cautella Walk. and Plodia interpunctella(Hübner) can be used as an alternative host in mass production studies at 25 ± 1 °C.