Parasitoid complex and parasitism rates of the horse chestnut leafminer, Cameraria ohridella (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia

Abstract

The horse chestnut leaf miner, Cameraria ohridella Deschka & Dimić, is a species of unknown origin that recently invaded most of Europe, causing serious damage to horse chestnut trees, Aesculus hippocastanum. Parasitism was studied over a period of three years in the region of Plzeň in the Czech Republic. Additional collections were made in Slovakia and Slovenia. The parasitoid complex, dominated by polyphagous idiobiont parasitoids of the family Eulophidae, is similar to that found in other studies in Europe. Minotetrastichus frontalis (Nees) was the most abundant parasitoid found, except in Slovakia where Pediobius saulius (Walker) dominated. One parasitoid species, the eulophid Cirrospilus diallus (Walker) was recorded for the first time from C. ohridella. A new method is proposed to calculate stage-specific and total parasitism rates. Parasitism rates of spinning larvae and pupae were higher than of feeding larvae; however, total parasitism was low. We estimated that between 1% and 17% of moths died from parasitism during the larval and pupal stages whereas the rate of mortality caused by other factors varied from 7% to 62%, depending on the locality, year and generation. The proposed method for calculating total parasitism, based on the integration of stage-specific parasitism rates, which takes into account the mortality not directly attributed to parasitism, is discussed and compared with other methods commonly used in studies on C. ohridella.

Keywords

• cameraria ohridella
• gracillariidae
• eulophidae
• parasitoids
• parasitism rate
• mortality rate
• horse chestnut
• aesculus hippocastanum