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Notes on life-history of Erycia furibunda (Diptera Tachinidae), a parasitoid of Euphydryas aurinia provincialis (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae)

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Pinzari M., Pinzari M., Sbordoni V. – Notes on life-history of Erycia furibunda (Diptera Tachinidae), a parasitoid of Euphydryas aurinia provincialis (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae) In this paper we present new data on the larval-pupal parasitoid Erycia furibunda found in association with coexisting populations of E. aurinia provincialis in Central Italy. For the first time we provide information on the biology of this tachinid revealing the duration of puparium stage, the protandry and adult phenology in captive conditions.
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REDIA, 100, 2017: 81-87
(*) Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 1 - 00133 Roma (Italy).
Corresponding author: e-mail: manuela.pinzari@uniroma2.it
(**) Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università di Roma 3, Via della Vasca Navale, 79 - 00146 Roma (Italy).
Pinzari M., Pinzari M., Sbordoni V. – Notes on life-history of Erycia furibunda (Diptera Tachinidae), a parasitoid of
Euphydryas aurinia provincialis (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae)
In this paper we present new data on the larval-pupal parasitoid Erycia furibunda found in association with coex-
isting populations of E. aurinia provincialis in Central Italy. For the first time we provide information on the biology of
this tachinid revealing the duration of puparium stage, the protandry and adult phenology in captive conditions.
KEY WORDS: Erycia furibunda, parasitoid, Euphydryas aurinia provincialis, butterfly, protandry.
MANUELA PINZARI (*) - MARIO PINZARI (**) - VALERIO SBORDONI (*)
NOTES ON LIFE-HISTORY OF ERYCIA FURIBUNDA (DIPTERA TACHINIDAE),
A PARASITOID OF EUPHYDRYAS AURINIA PROVINCIALIS
(LEPIDOPTERA NYMPHALIDAE)
INTRODUCTION
Hymenopterans and Dipterans include parasitoids whose
larvae may feed “on”, but more often “in” the bodies of
other arthropods. They are of immense importance in all
ecosystems because they can influence or regulate the
population density of many of their hosts including
butterflies. Contrarily to the considerable attention paid to
European butterflies by collectors and conservationists,
their parasitoids have relatively received less attention.
While it is relatively straightforward to identify the morta -
lity factors for a host, it is more difficult to estimate the
effects of a parasitoid on the dynamics of host populations
(abundance of butterflies). To do this it would be necessary
to build better knowledge about parasitoids.
Parasitoids may be divided into koinobionts and idio-
bionts on the basis of whether or not they allow their host to
feed and develop beyond the stage attacked (ASKEW &
SHAW, 1986). Koinobionts benefit from the continued life of
their hosts and generally show a high degree of host-para-
sitoid physiological integration during their young larval
stages (BECKAGE, 1985; PENNACCHIO & STRAND, 2006).
Conversely, idiobionts display low physiological interac-
tion with the host, which is permanently paralyzed or killed
before the parasitoid egg hatches (DINDO, 2011).
Several families of Diptera behave as parasitoids but only one
family, Tachinidae (very occasionally some species of Bom-
byliidae), includes parasitoids of butterflies. All tachinids at-
tacking butterflies parasitize the larval stage, though some do not
kill the host until it has pupated. They employ a wide variety of
strategies to get their larvae into the host. All tachinids are en-
doparasitoids and are usually considered as koinobionts, as
none of them kills or paralyzes the host when first entering it,
according to the classification proposed by ASKEW & SHAW
(1986). However, tachinids fit rather poorly into the koino-
biont/idiobiont dichotomy described originally for Hy-
menopteran parasitoids because few species show a high degree
of physiological adaptation to the host; in other species the lar-
vae grow quickly and kill the host rapidly, thus behaving more
as idiobionts (BELSHAW, 1993; DINDO, 2011).
Most parasitoids attack their hosts at a fairly precise life-
history stage and can be categorized in egg, larval and pupal
parasitoids. Hymenopterans that parasitize butterflies can
attack egg (Chalcidoidea and Platygastroidea), larval
(mainly, Ichneumonoidea) and pupal (some Ichneumonidae
and some family of Chalcidoidea) stages. Among Dipterans,
several tachinids attacking Lepidoptera parasitize the larval
stage and stay inside the host body until it has pupated; for
this reason they are also indicated as larval-pupal para -
sitoids (SHAW et al., 2009).
Tachinidae is one of the largest of approximately 125
families of Diptera in Europe (PAPE et al., 1995). Out of
four subfamilies in Europe, three (Dexiinae, Exoristinae and
Tachininae), contain parasitoids of Lepidoptera. Only
Exoristinae and Tachininae include species that regularly
attack butterflies (SHAW et al., 2009).
In Europe four species of genus Erycia Robineau-
Desvoidy, 1830 (Exoristinae) use Melitaeini butterflies as
host [fatua (Meigen 1824), furibunda (Zetterstedt 1844),
festinans (Meigen 1824) and fasciata (Villeneuve 1924)].
Among these species, three parasitize the Euphydryas
checkerspots: Erycia furibunda is a larval-pupal parasitoid
of Euphydryas aurinia (Rottemburg 1775) and all
European congeneric species (FORD & SHAW, 1991;
HERTING, 1960; BELSHAW, 1993; TSCHORSNIG & HERTING,
1994; FORD et al., 2000; VAN NOUHUYS & HANSKI, 2004;
STEFANESCU et al., 2009); Erycia festinans is parasitoid of
Euphydryas aurinia (HERTING, 1960), while Erycia fatua is
parasitoid of Euphydryas aurinia, and Euphydryas
desfontanii (Godart 1819) (PORTER, 1981; VAN NOUHUYS &
HANSKI, 2004).
In Italy, although all four species of genus Erycia are
present [Erycia fasciata, in North; E. fatua, in North and
South; E. festinans, in South and Sicily (MINELLI et al.,
1993; CERRETTI, 2010); E. furibunda, in North (CERRETTI,
2006) and in Centre (FORD et al., 2000)], only one case of
parasitism by Erycia furibunda on Euphydryas aurinia spp.
provincialis was recorded in the past (Umbria, FORD et al.,
2000). Moreover, during our previous field-work on larval
stages of E. a. provincialis in Central Apennines (PINZARI et
– Received 10 February 2017 Accepted 8 May 2017
http://dx.doi.org/10.19263/REDIA-100.17.10
82 M. PINZARI ET AL. REDIA, Vol. 100, 2017
al., 2016) we recorded the tachinid Erycia furibunda on
larval nests of the butterfly.
Erycia furibunda has been little studied so far and its
biology is poorly known; existing observations report adults
feeding on flowers of Laserpitium L. and Heracleum L.
(TSCHORSNIG et al., 2003). It is also recorded that males
exhibit the hilltopping strategy to encounter females
grouping on a mountain peak and sitting on stones
(TSCHORSNIG, 1996). Yet data on parasitism of E. aurinia
are rather scanty (SFORZA, 2003; STEFANESCU et al., 2009).
Here, we report our observations concerning the occur -
rence of Erycia furibunda as a larval-pupal parasitoid of the
butterfly Euphydryas aurinia spp. provincialis in Central
Italy and describe for the first time some aspects of the
parasitoid biology.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
HOST OF E. FURIBUNDA
As far as we know, the reported hosts of E. furibunda are
Euphydryas aurinia (Fig. I, 1) and most of other congeneric
species in Europe (SHAW et al., 2009).
A population of E. aurinia provincialis was first reported
by PINZARI et al. (2010) in a checklist of lepidoptera in the
area of Vallemare (Rieti, Lazio, Central Italy, Location
WGS84: N42.4836°-E13.1148°). In this area, the species
inhabits habitat patches in montane grassland and slopes at
1000 m within a mosaic of different habitats including
wooded areas, hedgerows and fields. Females oviposit on the
plants Gentiana cruciata L., Scabiosa columbaria L. and
Cephalaria leucantha (L.) Roem. & Schult., and caterpillars
feed on these host plants including also Lonicera caprifolium
L.Larval development includes six instar stages, three before
and three after diapause in the winter. The first three stages
are gregarious and the caterpillars grow inside a silk nest
from May to September (Fig. I, 2). They moult from the third
to fourth instar inside a winter nest from which they go out in
February of the following year. The fourth instar larvae are
still gregarious although not inside a silk nest; the fifth and
sixth instar larvae are solitary. The pupal stage occurs in April
and the adult emergence starts in May (PINZARI et al., 2016).
SAMPLING OF ERYCIA FURIBUNDA
In 2015 we recorded three flies of Erycia furibunda by
photographs on larval nests of E. a. provincialis and also
collected five adults with a butterfly net.Specimens of E.
furibunda were identified by their habitus (TSCHORSNIG &
HERTING, 1994). P. Cerretti (Rome, Italy) confirmed
identification and helped in sexing of individuals. These
specimens are presently preserved in Mario Pinzari
Collection in Rome (Italy).
SAMPLING OF E. A. PROVINCIALIS LARVAE
The larvae were collected in 2015 and 2016 through a
wide area (then, they are not from the same larval nest)
within the habitat patch n. 4 nearby the Crossroads Santa
Maria del Monte - Fonte Brignola (see the location in
12
345
Fig. I – 1, adult of E. a. provincialis; 2, larval pre-diapause nest of E. a. provincialis on the hostplant Gentiana cruciata; 3, adult of E.
furibunda while feeds on Daucus carota; 4, female of Erycia furibunda while oviposits nearby the caterpillars of E. a. provincialis
(August 2, 2015); 5, three females of E. furibunda that are present simultaneously on the nest of E. a. provincialis on Gentiana cruciata.
NOTES ON LIFE-HISTORY OF ERYCIA FURIBUNDA (DIPTERA TACHINIDAE), A PARASITOID OF EUPHYDRYAS AURINIA… 83
PINZARI et al., 2016). The sampling area corresponds to
montane grassland habitats and slopes, sometimes steep and
rocky, on calcareous soils, which were deeply exploited in
the past for grazing but nowadays suffer from a much
weaker pressure by cattle and sheep.
In 2015, twenty-eight V instar larvae were collected in
this site; in 2016, they were fifty. These larvae were reared
inside bio boxes (i.e. wood-framed cages with netted sides,
30×15×15 cm,) in laboratory in Rome at environmental
conditions (ca. 20-22°C; 45-60 % relative humidity; normal
photoperiod, 12-hour light-dark cycle). Until pupation and
fed mainly with leaves of Lonicera caprifolium L. and
Scabiosa columbaria L.
REARING OF E. FURIBUNDA
In order to investigate the life history of E. furibunda, we
started from the parasitized pupae.
A parasitized pupa was identified by its change in colour
from the whitish typical colour to reddish and later to dark
brown; this corresponds to the outcoming time of the
maggots (Fig. II, 1, 2 and 3) or also the death of pupa for
unknown reasons. On the contrary, when the pupa is
parasite-free it maintains its typical whitish colour and
becomes transparent when the adults of E. a. provincialis
emerge. The reddish pupae were isolated and labelled; then,
when the maggots left the pupae, the puparia were
individually kept in separate small cardboard boxes (3×3×3
cm, with one open netted side) until the fly emergence.
Pupae were monitored at two fixed times, 7 AM and 7 PM,
and also randomly on night and day. For each individual we
recorded time and date of the following events: a) the
formation of pupa; b) the emergence of parasitoid larva
(maggot) from pupa and the formation of the parasitoid
puparium; c) the break of puparium and the emergence of
the adult of E. furibunda.
We measure the duration of the development of the
tachinid larva up to its puparium. This was calculated as the
time period between the emergence of maggot from pupa
and the formation of the pupa occurred .
Moreover, we calculated the rate of parasitism (RP), as
the ratio between the number of emerging maggot from
butterfly pupae and the total number of pupae (Table 1).
Specimens of E. furibunda were sexed after death.
RESULTS
RECORDS OF E. FURIBUNDA ADULTS IN THE WILD
Collected specimens: 2 ♀♀, Vallemare (RI) S. Maria
Incrocio, 1000 m, 2.VIII.2015, 2 ♀♀, idem 5.VIII.2015, 1
♀, idem, 7.VIII.2015.
Observations: 6 ex, Vallemare (RI) S. Maria Incrocio,
1000 m, 5.VIII.2015.
Notes. Three individuals were observed on August, 5,
rested on larval nest (Fig. I, 5); three adults were observed
feeding on Daucus carota L. (Fig. I, 3).
RATE OF PARASITISM OF E. A. PROVINCIALIS - E. FURIBUNDA
SYSTEM
In the study locality, the parasite emerging from E. a.
provincialis larvae was only E. furibunda.
In two years, out of 79 caterpillars of E. a. provincialis,
78 formed the pupae. Only one larva died during rearing for
unknown causes. Out of 78 pupae, 73% became butterflies,
123
4567
Fig. II – Development of E. furibunda: 1, a newly formed pupa of E. a. provincialis; 2, the pupa has changed in colour from whitish
to reddish; 3, the pupa varied in colour from reddish to brownish before the maggot coming out; 4, a maggot of E. furibunda (length,
9 mm) that just emerged from pupa; 5, a newly formed puparium (length, 7 mm); 6, an exuvia of the puparium after the emergence
of adult of E. furibunda; 7, a pupa of E. a. provincialis after the parasitoid emergence with its mucus strand left at the exit site in wing-
case of pupa.
10% died for unknown cause, 17% died as parasitized
(Table 1).
Concerning Erycia 38% of puparia died for unknown
reasons, while the 62% of them gave rise to eight adults of
Erycia furibunda with a male-biased sex ratio (5:3)
(Table 1, 2016 data).
The parasitism rate (RP) of the pupae differed in the two
years (2015, 4%; 2016, 24%, p = 0.02).
NOTES ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF E. FURIBUNDA
Oviposition in the wild
Five females of E. furibunda were collected from natural
population from August 2, 2015, to August 7, 2015 when
they rested on larval nest of E. a. provincialis on the plant G.
cruciata; out of these females, a single female was
photographed while ovipositing on the larval nest of E. a.
provincialis (Fig. I, 4). Females evert their telescopic
ovipositor and insert the oviscapt in the silk of checkerspot
larval web nearby the caterpillars or in front of them while
they move forward to eat. The actual parasitization event (i.e
egg laying or larvae dropping onto host) was never observed.
The oviposition occurs when caterpillars of E. a. provincialis
are in early stages (I-III instar) before winter diapause.
Phenology of E. furibunda in captivity: larvae,
adults and hosts
Parasitized caterpillars of E. a. provincialis normally
developed until they became a pupa. At this stage, after the
pupa has finished changing in colour (from the whitish
typical colour to reddish and later to dark brown, Fig. II, 1,
2 and 3), the maggot of E. furibunda erupted the pupa with
a mucus strand (Fig. II, 7); this was produced by maggots
when they left the host as observed in other tachinid
parasitoids of butterflies (BAUMGART et al., 2003; KAN &
KAN, 2015). From each parasitized pupa a single maggot of
E. furibunda emerged by breaking through the wing-case of
the pupa. The parasitized pupae were at this stage com -
pletely depleted.
E. furibunda completes the larval stage in about three and
a half days (N= 12, mean 83 h, range: 48 -162 h). Males
need about three days (N = 5, mean 68 h, range 48 - 96 h)
and females about four days (N = 3, mean 102 h, range 48 -
162 h). The time necessary for the development of not
sexed individuals (died before adult emergence) was about
four days (N = 4, mean 88 h, range 60 - 114 h).
The maggots emerge from pupae over a period of
fourteen days (from April 17 to April 30, 2016: five males,
17-22 April; three females, 17-30 April; four individuals,
17-24 April, that were not sexed because died). Note that
the male emergence time at maggot stage tends to be shorter
(i.e. six days) than females (i.e. fourteen days) (Fig. III).
When the maggot leaves the host (Fig. II, 4), it pupates in a
puparium (Fig. II, 5, 6).
The time of development from puparium to adult was
about 18 days (Fig. IV) (N = 8, mean 451 h; range: 378 h -
522 h). Males emerged on average after 412 h (N = 5, range:
378 h - 448 h), while females emerged 516 h (N = 3; range:
507 h - 522 h). The adults emerged from 4 to 21 May 2016.
Five males emerged from puparia from 4 to 9 May, while
three females from 9 to 21 May. As shown by the phenology
of puparia males of E. furibunda emerged through a period
(six days) shorter than females (thirteen days).
Butterflies emerged before the parasitoids (Figs. III, IV)
from 22 April to 3 May 2016. Males of E. a. provincialis
came out from 22 to 30 April and females from 27 April to
3 May showing a protandry according to observations in the
wild by the Manuela Pinzari (unpublished data). The reader
takes into account that the adult emergence of both butterfly
and tachinid was in advance of about 20 days respect the
natural phenology in the wild, due to the favourable
breeding conditions (mild temperatures, food availability
with continuity) for caterpillars and then fly larvae
DISCUSSION
Efforts for butterfly conservation in Europe have mainly
been addressed to safeguard species habitats by means of
their quality (host plant abundance, host plant size and
vegetation characteristics of host plant cover),
environmental variables (soil temperature, air temperature
and soil moisture, slope, wind patterns and sun exposure of
land), landscape pattern and connectivity (shape and size,
presence of corridors) of the sites (KÜHN et al., 2005; NEW,
2013). In line with these topics, Euphydryas butterflies, and
in particular Euphydryas aurinia, one of the most threatened
butterflies in Europe, have been the subject of much
ecological research (EHRLICH & HANSKI, 2004). In fact, E.
aurinia is highly selective for both quality and spatial
distribution of habitats (KONVICKA et al., 2003; TJØRNLØV et
al., 2014) and persists in landscapes via metapopulation
dynamics, forming spatially restricted colonies inter -
84 M. PINZARI ET AL. REDIA, Vol. 100, 2017
Euphydryas aurinia provincialis Erycia furibunda
Year Pupae Puparia Adult sex
Total Parasitized (RP)* Dead Adult Dead Adult Male Female
2015 N28 1 22501 1 0
% 100 4 7 89 0 100 100 0
2016 N50 12 63248 5 3
% 100 24 12 64 38 62 62 38
N Total 78 13 8 57 4 9 6 3
% Total 100 17 10 73 31 69 67 33
Table 1 – Rearing results and Ratio of parasitism of E. a. provincialis - E. furibunda system.
*RP, rate of parasitism of the pupae; as concerns puparia, the % of dead and adults have been calculated
on the total of parasitized pupae, while the % of fly sexes on the total of producing adults.
connected by adult dispersal (HULA et al., 2004); in
addition, the species varies geographically in host plant use
(see revisions in SINGER, 2003, 2004; PINZARI et al., 2016).
However, relatively less emphasis has addressed to the role
of parasitoids.
Parasitism affects egg, larval and pupal stages of butter -
flies and parasitoids are widely recognised to have
regulatory effects on their host population dynamics (see
references in BULMAN, 2001). As concerns the parasitism of
Euphydryas, Hymenopterans (Braconidae and Ichneu -
monidae) are the main parasitoids attacking the
Checkerspots butterflies, while a few number of species in
Dipterans parasitizes them. In literature, only for E. editha
and E. phaeton in North America and E. aurinia in England,
the ecology of the wasp parasitoids have been studied and
published in any detail (VAN NOUHUYS & HANSKI, 2004),
while few information was reported for fly parasitoids.
Anyhow, many works on butterfly parasitoids were
compilations of host-parasitoid records and non-quantitative
(FORD & SHAW, 1991; SHAW et al., 2009; CERRETTI &
TSCHORSNIG, 2010). Instead, it is obviously important to
establish a comprehensive knowledge not only of which
species attack butterflies, but also of the host associations of
each one.
Here, we reported the results of the 2-year investigation
and provided new information on the biology of the fly
Erycia furibunda (Tachinidae) and its host Euphydryas
aurinia provincialis in Central Italy. Our observations
revealed E. furibunda as larval-pupal parasitoid of E. a.
provincialis confirming the record by FORD et al. (2000) in
Italy. These authors reported only an individual of E.
furibunda that emerged from a larva of E. a. provincialis
collected on Monte Subasio, Umbria. So far, our findings
showed no other parasitoids, as those reported in Europe for
Euphydryas aurinia and other cogeneric species (VAN
NOUHUYS & HANSKI, 2004; SHAW et al., 2009).
As concerns the observations in the wild we illustrated
the female oviposition strategy adopted by E. furibunda.
This species oviposits on the larval web of E. aurinia
provincialis and nearby eating caterpillars. When the fly egg
laying occurs the host was at early larval stages before
winter diapause. Then, E. furibunda might adopt an indirect
oviposition strategy as observed in other tachinids
(CERRETTI et al., 2010; DINDO, 2011). In indirect strategies,
eggs may be laid in the immediate vicinity of a host and the
newly hatched larvae have to wait for a host to pass by or
have to locate it on their own or may lay microtype eggs on
the host food plants which hatch within the host gut if
accidentally ingested (MELLINI, 1991; BELSHAW, 1993;
GODFRAY, 1994; STIREMAN et al., 2006; WAJNBERG et al.,
2007). The indirect oviposition in which females lay their
eggs in places frequented by the host or on host plants is a
strategy common in approximately 40% of Paleartic
tachinids (BELSHAW, 1993).
NOTES ON LIFE-HISTORY OF ERYCIA FURIBUNDA (DIPTERA TACHINIDAE), A PARASITOID OF EUPHYDRYAS AURINIA… 85
Fig. III – Puparia of E. furibunda that
emerged daily from parasitized pupae
whose larvae of E. a. provincialis were
collected in 2016 and phenology of E. a.
provincialis adults. In the istogram
sexes of parasitoids and its host are
shown by M (males) and F (females).
Fig. IV – Phenology of the adults in E.
furibunda that emerged daily from par-
asitized pupae whose larvae of E. a.
provincialis were collected in 2016.
The sexes are indicated by M (males)
and F (females).
In the laboratory, we detailed some unknown aspects of
the life-history of Erycia furibunda. It is a larval-pupal
endoparasitoid and an obligate parasite; in fact, it shows a
relatively long parasitic life inside the parasitized cater -
pillars of E. a. provincialis, allowing the host to continue
living until the pupa.
Additionally, E. furibunda seems to behave not differ-
ently from many tachinids that show a developmental syn-
chrony with the host. In tachinids the development is de-
pendent on host hormones and the first instar larvae have to
wait until the host has reached maturity or is in the pupal
stage before moulting to second instar (MELLINI, 1983;
LAWRENCE, 1986). In fact, the maggots of E. furibunda wait
inside E. aurinia provincialis until it reaches the pupal stage
and only when this occurs a single maggot comes out the
pupa and pupates outside the host remains. This agrees with
observations on many parasitic hymenopterans and dipterans
whose the development of young larvae is arrested until
their host pupate; the host’s hormones regulate the vital step
in development of the parasite (BARONIO & SEHNAL, 1980).
In line with the synchronization of the parasitoid and host life
cycles, the breeding of E. furibunda and its host E. a. provin-
cialis showed that the butterflies (not parasitized) emerge be-
fore the parasitoids and when these are at puparium. The time
of puparium of E. furibunda that corresponds about to the
time of phenology of butterflies and the postponed fly eclo-
sion might show a good synchronization of the parasite life-
cycle so that at the time of oviposition the host is ready to re-
ceive the eggs; this is as well as in another parasitoid of E.
aurinia, Cotesia (=Apanteles) bignellii (Marshall, 1885),
occurs (PORTER, 1983); in this species, a protracted parasitoid
cocoon stage is used as a mechanism for host-parasitoid
synchronisation when the host is unavailable for attack dur-
ing the chrysalis, adult and egg stages.
Moreover, our results revealed a protandry of the adults
of E. furibunda accordingly with the use of the hilltopping
behaviour to encounter the partners adopted by several
dipterans (ALCOCK & KEMP, 2006; SKEVINGTON, 2008; MEI
et al., 2010) including E. furibunda (TSCHORSNIG, 1996).
Protandry resulted both from the timing of the maggot
emergence from pupa and the eclosion of the adults as
observed also in other tachinids (HEBERT & CLOUTIER,
1988; THIÉRY et al., 2006).
Finally, we found a different incidence of the parasitoid
on mortality of the caterpillars in the 2-years investigation
with values of RP (4% and 24%) comparable to the values
(11.1% and 4.5%) reported for E. furibunda by STEFANESCU
et al. (2009) in their 2-year study on the parasitoid complex
attacking Euphydryas aurinia and Euphydryas desfontainii
in Spain. Although the impact of natural enemies, such as
parasitoids, on population size requires further research, the
revealed difference in the rate of parasitism seems to be
consistent with the adult population dynamics described in
the past by FORD & FORD (1930) for E. aurinia and
typically affected by fluctuations, suggesting a possible role
of E. furibunda as a control of population size of E. a.
provincialis in Central Italy.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The present study is a part of the projects of the
Osservatorio per la Biodiversità del Lazio (OBL), coor -
dinated by Prof. Valerio Sbordoni at the Department of
Biology, Tor Vergata University of Rome on behalf of the
Assessorato Ambiente e Cooperazione tra i Popoli della
Regione Lazio and intended to provide guidelines to help
monitor species protected under the Habitat Directive
92/43/CEE (Art. 17, par. 1).
We are very grateful to Dr. Pierfilippo Cerretti (Uni -
versity of Rome, La Sapienza) for confirming the
identification of Erycia furibunda and the sexes of the
individuals.
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NOTES ON LIFE-HISTORY OF ERYCIA FURIBUNDA (DIPTERA TACHINIDAE), A PARASITOID OF EUPHYDRYAS AURINIA… 87
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... In previous studies, we provided important information for the conservation of the populations living in Central Italy, where this species is in a better state than elsewhere. For several years we studied a population of E. a. provincialis (Boisduval, 1828) focusing on several aspects of the species biology and in particular on larval host plants preference , predators (Pinzari 2016) and parasitoids (Pinzari et al. 2017), adult population dynamics and, finally, on courtship and mating behaviour. ...
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