Bioecological characteristics of Bassus tumidulus (Nees) (Hym., Braconidae), a parasitoid of the poplar twig borer, Gypsonoma aceriana (Dup.) (Lep., Tortricidae) in Bulgaria

Main aspects of biology and ecology of Bassus tumidulus (Nees), a parasitoid of Gypsonoma aceriana (Dup.), were studied during the period 1989–2000. Poplar tender shoots with G. aceriana larvae were collected at four localities in Bulgaria (Sofia, Svoge, Vardim and Pazardzhik) and examined in laboratory conditions. B. tumidulus was recovered in the Sofia and Svoge localities. It is a solitary internal parasitoid that attacks young larvae of G. aceriana (first–second instars) and kills host pre‐pupae. It develops two generations and overwinters as a larva in the host. Adult emergence of both overwintering and summer generation of B. tumidulus coincides with adult emergence of the host. In 1997, the first generation emergence of B. tumidulus was in relatively good synchrony with the first larval population of G. aceriana. However, the second generation B. tumidulus was not very well synchronized with the life cycle of G. aceriana because adult parasitoids appeared mostly in the beginning of the host larval population. The average mortality of G. aceriana, caused by this parasitoid in 1997 in Sofia, was 15.7 and 23.3% for the overwintering and summer generation, respectively. The highest level of parasitism by B. tumidulus, observed in individual study, was 61.5%, occurring during the summer generation in 1997.