Impact of Host and Food Availability on Life‐History Traits in Six Egg Parasitoid Species of the Genus Trichogramma

ABSTRACT Energy is a finite resource that can be used by insects for different life‐history traits, but with trade‐offs. One of those trade‐offs is between reproduction and somatic maintenance. Energy can be provided through different sources during both development and adult life, providing carbohydrates, lipids, and amino acids/proteins. In adult parasitoids, the nutrients can come from hosts or non‐host sources. In this study, we investigated the impact of different food sources on life‐history traits, such as longevity and fecundity, in females of six Trichogramma species (two thelytokous and four arrhenotokous): T. cacoeciae Marchal, T. chilonis Ishii, T. minutum Riley, T. leptoparameron Dyurich, T. pintoi Voegele, and T. sibericum Sorokina (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae). Although the impact of food differed among species, there was a general tendency of increased life expectancy with access to sugar and hosts, separately or together. Similarly, the potential maximal fecundity differed among species, but access to hosts increased the number of eggs matured during their adult life, and this increase was greater with access to sugar. Results suggest that both host‐feeding and oosorption occur in those species. All species are synovigenic and have some mature eggs at emergence, with ovigeny indexes varying from 0.113 to 0.457.