Parasitism of Clavigralla spp. (Hemiptera:Coreidae) Eggs by Gryon clavigrallae Mineo (Hymenoptera:Scelionidae)

Clavigralla spp. (Hemiptera: Coreidae) eggs are laid in
clusters. Field collections at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) over three seasons from 1992-93 to 1994-95 showed that cluster size ranges from 2 to 62 eggs with a mean of 17.7 eggs. A majority of egg clusters (72%) contained between 7 and 24 eggs. Gryon clavigrallae Mineo (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) parasitized up to 69 per cent of eggs and up to 100 per cent of egg clusters each season. Overall, more than 39 per cent of Clavigralla spp. eggs were parasitized by G. clavigrallae. The percentage of egg clusters parasitized and the percentage of eggs parasitized in a cluster were positively correlated with the size of the egg cluster. The percentage of eggs and egg clusters parasitized by G. clavigrallae increased through the season.