Potential non-target effects of Sclerodermus harmandi (Hymenoptera:Bethylidae) on Triaspis sp. (Hymenoptera:Braconidae)

Sclerodermus harmandi (Buysson) (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) is a generalist parasitoid that has been mass-produced and released for biological control of many agricultural and forest pests in China. However, few studies have examined the potential non-target risks of this parasitoid in targeted agriculture or forest ecosystems. In this study, we demonstrate that S. harmandi successfully attacks Triaspis sp. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), an important native natural enemy of the pine weevil pest Pissodes punctatus Langor et Zhang in Yunnan Province of China. When exposed to older larvae of Triaspis sp. at three different parasitoid-to-host group sizes (1:1, 2:2 and 3:3) with a constant 1:1 parasitoid-to-host ratio, S. harmandi successfully attacked 100%, 75% and 83.3% of the test larvae, respectively. All life stages (egg, larva, pupa and adult) of S. harmandi were observed on Triaspis sp. larvae, indicating that Triaspis sp. are suitable for the completion of S. harmandi development. There were no significant differences in the number of S. harmandi progeny produced among the different parasitoid-to-host exposure treatments. Immature stages of S. harmandi on parasitized Triaspis sp. took 25.4 days to complete their development (the egg stage: 3.6 days, the larval stage: 5.0 days, the pupal stage: 16.5 days). Together, results from our study indicate that mass-releases of S. harmandi for biological control of forest pests in Yunnan Province may adversely affect some valuable non-target insects such as Triaspis sp. We suggest that the potential non-target risk of S. harmandi be considered in future augmentative release biological control programmes against forest pests.