Natural enemies of Orgyia trigotephras (Boisduval 1829) (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Lymantriinae) in Tunisia

Abstract

Phytophagous insects may select plants or plant parts not only based upon nutritional content, but also on the intensity of predation and parasitism. This observation leads to the enemy free space hypothesis, which suggests that herbivores select host plants for which the mortality from natural enemies is minimized, by preferring host plants on which the herbivores would be less vulnerable to their natural enemies. In Tunisia, Orgyia trigotephras is a polyphagous moth, bivoltine with a spring (SG) and an autumnal (AG) generation. This work was carried out in two sites: Jebel Abderrahmane (Ftahiz, Delhiza and Guitoun) and Bizerte (Sejnane). The aim is to compare the importance of predation by moth larvae (Coccidiphila rungsella) and parasitism by egg parasitoids (Aprostocetus sp.) on O. trigotephras on two host species, Quercus coccifera and Pistacia lentiscus.

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