process among insects inevitably alters their population dynamics, which has broad
evolutionary and ecological consequences (Frazier et al. 2006).
Few studies were done on the reproductive life table of the aphid parasitoids in
Iran, mainly focusing on the species associated with most common and economically important aphid species. Talebi et al. (2002) compared the reproductive rate of
the walnut aphid, Chromaphis juglandicola (Kaltenbach) with its specific parasitoid,
Trioxys pallidus (Haliday). The parasitoid showed a greater intrinsic rate of increase
comparing its host aphid and can be an efficient biological control agent in its native
area, which was already confirmed by introduction of this species in the in North
America (van den Bosch et al. 1962, 1979), too. The subsequent studies were done
on the parasitoids that have potential for mass rearing and an augmentation biological control (Zamani et al. 2007, 2012; Bagheri-matin et al. 2009; Tahriri et al. 2010;
Tazerouni et al. 2012a, b, 2013; Pourtaghi et al. 2016; Mottaghinia et al. 2017). As a
tritrophic study, the effect of soil media containing different vermicompost compositions on life history parameters of A. matricariae was also investigated
(Mottaghinia et al. 2017). Those results confirmed the significant effect of soil
composition on population parameters of A. matricariae. Both Aphidius colemani
Viereck (¼Aphidius platensis Brethes in Iran) and Aphidius matricariae Haliday are
well-known parasitoids of the pest aphids on protected crops (Aphis gossypii Glover
and Myzus persicae (Sulzer)) and their life tables were evaluated with more details
(Zamani et al. 2007, 2012; Pourtaghi et al. 2016; Tazerouni et al. 2017), but yet
many other aspects including the effects of host aphid size, inter and intra-specific
competition (host aphid density), food plant species, semiochemicals, host aphid
resistance, microbial symbiosis and genetics need further attention. Accordingly, it
has been revealed that the interspecific interaction between A. matricariae and
P. volucre on M. persicae influenced on biological traits of both parasitoids and
their population size (Tazerouni et al. 2016, 2017). It is recently reported
(unpublished) that commercially produced race of Aphidius matricariae (Koppert
B.V.) did not accept Aphis gossypii, while this is a serious pest in the greenhouses. It
might be a local drift of the reared population, sourced in Europe, but the Iranian
population successfully parasitized this aphid both in natural (Rakhshani et al.
2008a) and laboratory condition (Zamani et al. 2012). It has worth to re-emphasize
that the second commercially produced species, Aphidius colemani Viereck did not
occur in Iran and the previous records (Rakhshani et al. 2008a, b, c, d; Zamani et al.
2007, 2012) all refer to Aphidius platensis Brethes (Tomanović et al. 2014), which
seems not to be distributed in Europe. The specimens which were used in the studies
by Hofsvang and Hägvar (1975) might also being originated from the area outside
Europe, i.e. South America.
In environmental view, life table studies providing important data for the ecosystem management in the course of conservation biological control programs. There is
no space to ignore the importance of reproduction rate and sex allocation strategies at
the time of mass rearing for the aphid parasitoids. Considering the general problems
exist in the practical mass rearing of the aphid parasitoids, the greater value of
reproduction under controllable sex determination mechanisms (Heimpel and de
Boer 2008; Singh et al. 2014) is rather critical. Beside the crucial parameters
346
E. Rakhshani and P. Starý
evolutionary and ecological consequences (Frazier et al. 2006).
Few studies were done on the reproductive life table of the aphid parasitoids in
Iran, mainly focusing on the species associated with most common and economically important aphid species. Talebi et al. (2002) compared the reproductive rate of
the walnut aphid, Chromaphis juglandicola (Kaltenbach) with its specific parasitoid,
Trioxys pallidus (Haliday). The parasitoid showed a greater intrinsic rate of increase
comparing its host aphid and can be an efficient biological control agent in its native
area, which was already confirmed by introduction of this species in the in North
America (van den Bosch et al. 1962, 1979), too. The subsequent studies were done
on the parasitoids that have potential for mass rearing and an augmentation biological control (Zamani et al. 2007, 2012; Bagheri-matin et al. 2009; Tahriri et al. 2010;
Tazerouni et al. 2012a, b, 2013; Pourtaghi et al. 2016; Mottaghinia et al. 2017). As a
tritrophic study, the effect of soil media containing different vermicompost compositions on life history parameters of A. matricariae was also investigated
(Mottaghinia et al. 2017). Those results confirmed the significant effect of soil
composition on population parameters of A. matricariae. Both Aphidius colemani
Viereck (¼Aphidius platensis Brethes in Iran) and Aphidius matricariae Haliday are
well-known parasitoids of the pest aphids on protected crops (Aphis gossypii Glover
and Myzus persicae (Sulzer)) and their life tables were evaluated with more details
(Zamani et al. 2007, 2012; Pourtaghi et al. 2016; Tazerouni et al. 2017), but yet
many other aspects including the effects of host aphid size, inter and intra-specific
competition (host aphid density), food plant species, semiochemicals, host aphid
resistance, microbial symbiosis and genetics need further attention. Accordingly, it
has been revealed that the interspecific interaction between A. matricariae and
P. volucre on M. persicae influenced on biological traits of both parasitoids and
their population size (Tazerouni et al. 2016, 2017). It is recently reported
(unpublished) that commercially produced race of Aphidius matricariae (Koppert
B.V.) did not accept Aphis gossypii, while this is a serious pest in the greenhouses. It
might be a local drift of the reared population, sourced in Europe, but the Iranian
population successfully parasitized this aphid both in natural (Rakhshani et al.
2008a) and laboratory condition (Zamani et al. 2012). It has worth to re-emphasize
that the second commercially produced species, Aphidius colemani Viereck did not
occur in Iran and the previous records (Rakhshani et al. 2008a, b, c, d; Zamani et al.
2007, 2012) all refer to Aphidius platensis Brethes (Tomanović et al. 2014), which
seems not to be distributed in Europe. The specimens which were used in the studies
by Hofsvang and Hägvar (1975) might also being originated from the area outside
Europe, i.e. South America.
In environmental view, life table studies providing important data for the ecosystem management in the course of conservation biological control programs. There is
no space to ignore the importance of reproduction rate and sex allocation strategies at
the time of mass rearing for the aphid parasitoids. Considering the general problems
exist in the practical mass rearing of the aphid parasitoids, the greater value of
reproduction under controllable sex determination mechanisms (Heimpel and de
Boer 2008; Singh et al. 2014) is rather critical. Beside the crucial parameters
346
E. Rakhshani and P. Starý