Question

Parasitoid, Aenasius phenacocci (Hymenoptera) on cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis is:

• A. Primary parasitoid
• B. Hyperparasitoid
• C. Gregarious parasitoid
• D. Adelpho parasitoid

Hint:

Gregarious parasitoids produce many offspring per host, unlike solitary primary parasitoids.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Aenasius phenacocci is a gregarious parasitoid, laying multiple eggs on a single host, which develop into several parasitoid larvae.

Answer 2

A primary parasitoid attacks a healthy host directly but that alone does not describe its reproductive pattern; a hyperparasitoid would need to attack another parasitoid rather than the mealybug itself; and an adelphoparasitoid shows sex-linked parasitism where males and females use different hosts. None of these describe the egg-laying pattern of Aenasius phenacocci, which instead lays multiple eggs within a single mealybug host that then develop into several adult wasps from that one host individual. This one-host-many-offspring pattern is the defining feature of a gregarious parasitoid.