Understanding the effects of diet on metabolic events is crucial for biological control programs of parasitoid insects. As bioindicators of long-term physiological stress: survivorship of fifth instar larvae, pupation, adult survival, and developmental time for stages of endoparasitoid Pimpla turionellae L. (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) were investigated by rearing the parasitoid on the host, Galleria mellonella L. (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) pupae were treated with neomycin. First instar larvae of G. mellonella were reared on artificial diets containing 0.005, 0.01, or 0.5 g neomycin (g/100 g of diet) until seventh instar larvae; the pupae from these larvae were used as a host for rearing P. turionellae. In the control group, the pupae from larvae reared on artificial diets without neomycin were used as a host. Survivorship of fifth instar, pupal, and adult stages of P. turionellae L. reared on G. mellonella pupae as a host fed with different concentrations of neomycin were significantly decreased in comparison to the control group. Approximately eighty percent of P. turionellae L. pupae were produced from control host pupae, while other neomycin concentrations significantly decreased the pupation of the parasitoid. Pimpla turionellae L. larvae reared on control host pupae reached fifth instar in about 9.6 ± 0.61 d, while the larvae reared from a host pupae exposed to the highest antibiotic concentration completed their development to the fifth instar in about 7.4 d. These results showed that neomycin, and possibly its metabolites, contaminated P. turionellae L. larvae from a host and affected larval stages of the parasitoid.
Keywords: Galleria mellonella; Pimpla turionellae; development; neomycin; survivorship.
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