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Pauesia antennata Mukerji (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) as the unique parasitoid of the giant brown peach aphid, Pterochloroides persiace Cholodkovsky (Hemiptera, Aphididae) is considered to be the most effective biological control agent of this pest. In this study, the assessment of selected biological parameters of P. antennata demonstrated that the longevity of mature parasitoid was 3.90 ± 0.22, the developmental time was 14.48 ± 1.05 and the life span was 19.46 ± 0.68 days. The maximum flight activity and oviposition were observed at the second and third days of the parasitoid lifespan. The parasitism, emergence rates and the sex ratio were affected by the variations in the number of P. persicae relative to each population of the parasitoid.

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Rearing methods for Bracon hebetor (Say) (Hym., Braconidae) were investigated in the series of laboratory experiments designed to enhance the yield of the mass rearing of this parasitoid for biological control of lepidopteran field and stored product pests. In these experiments, the effects of parasitoid and host densities on fertility and sex ratio of B. hebetor were assessed. In parasitoid densities, 50 last-instar greater wax moth (GWM) Galleria mellonella (L.) larvae were placed per container and 1, 2, 4, 8 or10 pairs of B. hebetor (one male and one female) were released in each container. In host density study two pairs B. hebetor were introduce in six different densities (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60) of host, GWM per container. A density of ten male-female pairs of B. hebetor produced a higher number of progeny (205 ± 7.07 adults) on 50 last instar larvae of GWM. Similarly, in a host density experiment, a density of 60 last instars GWM larvae produced a significantly higher number of parasitoid progeny (142.0  ±  8.75 adults), followed by 50 last instar larvae (141.0 ± 8.34 adults) among the tested host densities when two pairs of B. hebetor were used. The sex ratio of progenies was male-biased in all studies and there were no significant effects on sex ratio in various parasitoid and host densities. In mass rearing experiment, total number of emerged parasitoids per 200 wax moth larvae was 1091 ± 82.38 adults with mean parasitism rate of 98 ± 0.8%.  

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The parasitoid Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko is used for inundative releases in biological control programs against lepidopteran pests in agro-ecosystems. Age-specific functional responses of T. brassicae to different egg densities (5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, and 80) of sterilized eggs of Ephestia kuehniella at 23±1°C, 60±5% RH, and 16:8 h (L:D photoperiod ) were studied. E. kuehniella densities were separately presented to a single mated female of T. brassicae (1-day-old). The egg densities were replaced every day until the parasitoid died and each density was replicated 20 times. A type III functional response was obtained for the one-day-old females and a type II for two- to nine-day-old ones. Results show that parasitoid age influences searching efficiency and handling time. Searching efficiency (a´) varied as adult parasitoids aged. In contrast, handling time increased with age. The lowest and highest values were obtained in days 1 and 9 of the parasitoid's life, respectively. The maximum rate of parasitism (T/T_h) decreased significantly with an increase in parasitoid age. It was concluded that T. brassicae females were most efficient at early ages of their life and might be capable of efficiently suppressing lepidopteran pest populations.

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The egg parasitoid, Trichogramma evanescens Westwood, is used for inundative releases in biological control programs against the tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta Meyrick, in agro-ecosystems. One of the most important host-parasitoid interactions is functional response that its type and parameters are affected by different factors including host plant characteristics. In this research, functional response of T. evanescens to different egg densities (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64) of T. absoluta was investigated in a growth chamber (26±2°C, 50±10% RH, and 16:8 hours L:D photoperiod), on three varieties of tomato (Mobil, Riogrande, and Early Urbana-703). Type of functional response was determined by logistic regression and its parameters, i.e. searching efficiency and handling time, were calculated by nonlinear regression model using SAS software. Functional response of this parasitoid was type III on Mobil and Riogrande and type II on Early Urbana- 703. Searching efficiency (a) for each host density was 0.0368, 0.0736, 0.1472, 0.2944, 0.5888, and 1.1776 on Mobil, and 0.0374, 0.0748, 0.1469, 0.2992, 0.5984, and 1.1968 h^-1 on Riogrande varieties, respectively. Also, on Early Urbana-703, the attack rate was 0.1045 h^-1. The handling time was 1.0276, 1.1017, and 1.3289 hours with maximum parasitism of 23.3, 21.7, and 18.06 eggs on these varieties, respectively. It is suggested that physical structure of Early Urbana-703 variety may interfere with the parasitoid’s performance, resulting in an impaired searching efficiency and parasitism ability. Some applied aspects of the findings are discussed.