Abstract
Biological control is one of the effective means of controlling forestry burrowing pests in a low-cost and efficient way. Scleroderma sichuanensis, an ectoparasitic wasp, exhibits significant potential in managing burrowing pests. Currently, the mealworm Tenebrio molitor pupae are mainly used to many insects large-scale indoor breeding of diet. Therefore, this study focused on the effects of cryogenically treated the mealworm T. molitor pupae for different times and anesthesia treatment on the percentage parasitism and the number of emergence of S. sichuanensis, optimum parasitism and emergence were achieved in the wasp with a parasitoid-to-host ratio of 2:1, anesthesia treatment of T. molitor pupae with ethyl ether fumigation for 1.5 h, and cold treatment of them at a temperature of -10°C. As a result, various methods of treating T. molitor pupae indoors were explored, and optimal conditions for indoor rearing were explored for the expansion of S. sichuanensis.