Effect of female's age on the progeny production and sex ratio of Ooencyrtus nezarae, an egg parasitoid of the bean bug Riptortus clavatus

Ooencyrtus nezarae is a facultative gregarious egg parasitoid and attacks a wide variety of several hemipterian bugs. In the present study, the influence of female parasitoid's age to progeny production and sex ratio of O. nezarae was evaluated under laboratory tests. The percentage parasitism and the number of progeny were significantly decreased in old female. The optimal age of O. nezarae for successful parasitism ranged from 1-4 days, and sex ratio and clutch size were not affected by female parasitoid's age. The reproductive potential of 4-day-old and 1-day-old females was significantly higher than 20-day-old females. At the same time, 4-day-old females are more fecund within short duration than 1-day-old female. Our findings revealed the optimal female's age for efficient reproduction of O. nezarae which can be useful for biological control program as well as for mass rearing to optimize its efficiency.