The Biology of Archytas marmoratus (Townsend)1,2,3,4

A culture of Archytas marmoratus was maintained on laboratory-reared H. virescens. Mating, longevity, larviposition, fecundity and mortality were studied, principally under controlled conditions. Females larviposited with or without the presence of hosts or foliage, and maggots could survive several days without hosts. Archytas marmoratus could successfully parasitize any host instar, but survival on 5th-stage (ultimate) hosts was significantly greater than that on earlier instars. Survival of maggots, following penetration of the host larva, was largely limited by (1) loss of 1st-stage maggots with the exuviae during host ecdysis and (2) overabundance of maggots in the host pupa resulting in death of both parasite and host. However, with an increasing degree of superparasitism, the former increased production of adult flies by lowering maggot density in the host pupa.