Influence of photoperiod on the overwintering induction of Galerucella calmariensis L

Understanding thephenology of biological control agents iscritical for developing effective rearingmethods. In the case of Galerucellacalmariensis L, a biological control agentintroduced against purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), the presence of anobligatory diapause affects successful rearing.G. calmariensis individuals were rearedfrom egg to adult under four differentcombinations of long and short photoperiods.Two weeks after adult emergence, individualsfrom each treatment were dissected to check forovary development and presence of developedeggs as indicators of overwintering induction.Individuals treated under short photoperiodthroughout their lifetime were found to havesmaller ovaries and few developed eggs,indicating an effective overwinteringinduction. The adult stage of G.calmariensis was determined to be the stagesensitive to photoperiod, as evidenced byreduction in ovary size, decreasedoverwintering mortality and increasedpost-overwintering fecundity in individualstreated as adults with short daylength. Increased post-overwintering fecundity whendiapause was effectively induced can increasethe efficiency of rearing programs for G. calmariensis and other weed biological controlagents with a reproductive diapause.