Temperature, as a critical abiotic factor, might influence the effectiveness of biological control by parasitoids in host-parasitoid systems. In this study, Neochrysocharis formosa (Westwood), a larval endoparasitoid, is used to investigate the efficacy of biological control on a vegetable agriculture pest, Liriomyza sativae Blanchard, reared on kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), at four constant temperatures (26, 29, 32, and 35°C) under laboratory conditions. Our results show that high temperatures (29, 32, and 35°C) do not significantly affect lifetime host-killing events of female adults by increased daily host-killing events compared to temperature 26°C, although their lifespans decrease with an increase in temperatures. Each life-history trait of female adults (lifespan, parasitism, stinging, or nonreproductive host-killing events) present a linear relation with temperatures and host-feeding events, respectively. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of biocontrol efficacy of parasitoid N. formosa against agromyzid leafminers at high-temperature seasons or environments.

Coexisting natural enemies that share a common host resource in the same guild usually exhibit variation in their life history traits, due to their need to share a similar ecological niche. In this study, we compared the immature development times and adult life history traits of two coexisting, host-feeding parasitoids, Diglyphus isaea Walker and Neochrysocharis formosa Westwood (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), of which both attack larvae of the same agromyzid leafminers. These two species are both synovigenic, idiobiont parasitoids, whose adults consume host fluids (“host feeding”) and lay anhydropic eggs. Of the two, D. isaea has a larger body but little or no initial egg load, and engages in similar lifetime host-feeding events. However, it achieves higher fecundity, longer adult longevity, and higher host suppression ability than N. formosa, which has a smaller body and higher initial egg load. Although D. isaea engages in similar lifetime host-feeding events with N. formosa, all of its gains in life history traits per host-feeding event of D. isaea were larger than those of N. formosa. The age-specific fecundity and host mortality curves of N. formosa were more skewed in early life than those of D. isaea. In addition, the ovigeny index of N. formosa was negatively correlated to body size. Our results confirmed that two coexisting parasitoids, which share the same host resource, show different immature development patterns and life history traits, suggesting that different resource allocation mode could be a general rule of coexisting species sharing the same habitat or host.