Factors Affecting the Reproduction and Mass-Rearing of Sclerodermus brevicornis (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae), a Natural Enemy of Exotic Flat-Faced Longhorn Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae)

Many species of long-horned beetles are invasive pests causing significant economic
damage in agro-forestry systems. They spend the majority of their life-cycle concealed inside
natural wood or wooden packaging materials and are largely protected from adverse environmental
conditions and pesticide sprays. Biological control via parasitoid natural enemies including members
of the bethylid genus Sclerodermus, has proven effective against some long-horned beetles that are
invasive in China. In Europe, the biocontrol potential of native Sclerodermus species is being evaluated
with a view to developing efficient mass-rearing techniques and then actively deploying them against
invasive Asian beetles. Here, we continue evaluations of S. brevicornis by establishing that groups
of females that have already reared offspring to emergence are capable of reproducing subsequent
hosts and by evaluating the lifetime reproductive capacity of individual females provided with
successive hosts. Additionally, we assess the laboratory shelf-life of adult females stored for different
times at different temperatures including cold storage, and then assess the post-storage reproductive
performance of groups of females provided with a single host. We found that adult female longevity
declines with increasing storage temperature and that most aspects of subsequent performance are
negatively affected by high temperatures. The adaptability to low temperature storage enhances
the suitability of S. brevicornis to mass-rearing programs and thus biocontrol deployment