In vitro culture of the parasitic wasp Aphidius ervi: Sweet dream or Reality

Aphidius ervi is an entomophagous parasitoid and represents an effective parasitoid of several aphid species that cause great damages in agriculture. Several investigations, for its in vitro mass production, have achieved a limited success and suggest that in vitro culture of this valuable biological control agent is rather closer to a dream than reality.
Our work provides a chronological study of A. ervi development, from the oviposition until hatching of the first instar larva, in the body of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. We show that this parasitoid has some characteristics in its embryological development that are rather complex and different from most other reported insects, which can be phylogenetically very close. Some of these characteristics concern extraembryonic membranes and could be among the causes of the limited success achieved in the in vitro culture.