Solonkin I.A., Zakharova E.Yu., Shkurikhin A.O. 2024. Preimaginal mortality of the black-veined white Aporia crataegi Linnaeus, 1758 (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) at different phases of an outbreak cycle // Euroasian Entomological Journal. Vol.23. No.3: 159–168 [in English].
Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 8th Marta Str. 202, Ekaterinburg 620144 Russia. E-mail: igorsolonkin@yandex.ru
doi 10.15298/euroasentj.23.03.09
ABSTRACT. This study investigates the long-term dynamics of preimaginal mortality of the black-veined white at different stages of its life cycle (II–III instar larvae during the diapause and overwintering, V instar larvae, prepupae and pupae). The research was conducted in two locations: in the south of the Sverdlovskaya Oblast near Fomino village and in the suburban forests of the City of Novosibirsk. The mortality of black-veined white larvae during overwintering is shown to be independent of winter weather conditions and reaches maximum values (up to 89%) at the end of outbreaks. The decline of the black-veined white outbreak in the southern Sverdlovsk region was significantly contributed to by mass mortality of V instar larvae due to the nuclear polyhedrosis virus and II–III instar larvae during overwintering. In Novosibirsk, the infection rate of V instar larvae, prepupae, and pupae by tachinid flies (Diptera: Tachinidae) and the high mortality of larvae during diapause and overwintering were found to have a similar effect. The parasitoid hymenoptera Cotesia Cameron, 1891 sp. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) (specialised parasitoids of larvae) and ichneumonids (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) (pupal parasitoids) did not significantly contribute to reducing the density of the studied black-veined white populations.
KEY WORDS: mortality, outbreak, population cycle, eruptive species, parasitoids, black-veined white, nuclear polyhedrosis virus.