Ovarioles of Jaliscoa hunteri (Hymenoptera Pteromalidae), and effect of host and protein supplements on oogenesis

Jaliscoa hunteri (Crawford) (Hymenoptera Pteromalidae) is a generalist ectoparasitoid that has received attention because it can parasitize the pepper weevil Anthonomus eugenii (Cano) (Coleoptera Curculionidae). Since J. hunteri adults perform host feeding to get protein and to increase their reproductive potential, the objective of this work was to describe its ovarioles and to evaluate if feeding adults with three protein supplements (casein, pollen and hydrolysed protein) had any effect on them. Five treatments were considered: honey, honey and host, and mixtures of honey with casein, pollen or hydrolysed protein. The number of oocytes, eggs and egg size (quality) were evaluated in each case. For evaluation, we dissected 10 J. hunteri females at 0, 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 day of age. J. hunteri ovarioles are of the polytrophic meroistic type, with one pair of ovaries and three ovarioles per ovary. The amount of oocytes in J. hunteri that were honey-host fed was 25% higher than any other treatment, followed by honey, honeycasein, and honey-pollen which produced 15% more oocytes than honey-hydrolysed protein. Honey-host produced 59% more eggs than treatments with no host, followed by honey-casein, which produced 38% more eggs than treatments with no host. Egg size was not affected by treatments. The highest production of oocytes and eggs occurred on days 5, 10 and 15, and honey-host resulted in the highest number of both variables. Though more experimentation is needed, results with no host suggest that casein has an effect on the reproductive biology of J. hunteri.