Unknown

Plastic insect cage (height: 12.5 cm; diam: 10.0 cm) was provided with four calibrated glass micropipettes (5.0 μl, Blaubrand Intramark, Wertheim, Germany) filled with 4.0 μl of the test sugar solution (Melezitose) and inert mineral oil overlay (1.0 μl) to minimize evaporation. These capillaries were inserted through the lid (at the corners of a square of 4.5 × 4.5 cm, in the middle of the lid) via truncated 200 μl yellow pipette tips. To meet the water requirements of the parasitoids, a filter paper imbibed with 500 μl of sterile demineralized water was placed at the bottom of the cage at the start of the experiment, and supplemented with another 500 μl of water each day for the longevity experiments. To allow entry of air, the lid of the cage was pierced and covered with a fine mesh (2.5 × 2.5 cm; mesh size 0.27 × 0.88 mm). For each experiment, after being subjected to a dark period of 8 h, five replicates of 15 adult parasitoids were released in each cage. Each experiment also included an identical CAFE chamber without parasitoids to determine evaporative losses, which were subtracted from experimental readings. All experiments were conducted under controlled conditions of 22 °C, 70 % RH and a 16:8 h L:D cycle, starting with the light period.