Bracon hebetor Category: NOLI Minimum Life Cycle: Egg to adult 9 to 10 days (30°C). Adult female longevity about 23 days. Fecundity: approximately 100 eggs. Distribution: Cosmopolitan associated with stored product moths. Not injurious to stored grain. Biology: Adults - Females paralyze and lay eggs in late instar moth larvae. Each female produces about 100 eggs. On the average, eight larvae develop in one host. (Host: Indianmeal moth and almond moth external to grain.) Bracon hebetor, a Parasitoid. Bracon hebetor parasitizes several of the common grain moths such as the Indianmeal moth in the late larval stage. According to the results of laboratory tests, it promises to be a useful biological control agent (Figure 28). (Slide courtesy of USDA, J. Brower.)

Figure 28. Bracon hebetor (Parasitoid).

Index for the Interpretive Line Slides for Insects Chapter 13, Stored Product Management E-912, Stored Product Management Main Home Page P*E*A*R*L (OCES Online Publications) Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Oklahoma State University