BIOLOGICAL CONTROL Parasitism-Mediated Interactions Between the Ring-Legged Earwig and Sugarcane Borer Larvae GS NUNES 1 , DG RAMALHO 2 , NA DOS SANTOS 2 , CC TRUZI 1 , NF VIEIRA 1 , CP CARDOSO 1 , SA DE BORTOLI 1 1 Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Univ Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Jaboticabal, SP, Brasil 2 Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras, Univ de São Paulo (USP), Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil Abstract Keywords Cotesia flavipes, Diatraea saccharalis, Euborellia annulipes , integrated pest management, trophic interactions Correspondence GS Nunes, Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Univ Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Jaboticabal, SP, Brasil; gilmarsilvanunes@ gmail.com Edited by Angelo Pallini – UFV Received 26 April 2019 and accepted 11 October 2019 * Sociedade Entomológica do Brasil 2019 Sugarcane is one of the most economically important crops in Brazil. The damage caused by Diatraea saccharalis (F.) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) results in high costs for its production. Cotesia flavipes Cameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is the most efficient means of controlling this pest. The prohibi- tion of burning and the preservation of soil cover through non-tillage practices increased many population densities of natural enemies of the sugarcane borer (SCB) in sugarcane fields. Euborellia annulipes (Lucas) (Dermaptera: Anisolabididae) is a predator found in sugarcane fields and is associated with predation of SCB. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of parasitism of D. saccharalis by C. flavipes on predation by E. annulipes adult females. For this purpose, fourth instar sugarcane borer larvae were exposed to parasitism over a 5-day period or were not parasitized. Subsequently, the prey was supplied to the predator in arenas under choice and no-choice conditions and under different densities to evaluate the feeding preference over a 12-h period and functional response of the predator over a 24-h period. E. annulipes killed 2–3 fourth instar larvae of the sugarcane borer over a 12-h period. SCB parasitism did not affect the feeding preference of the predator and did not alter the type II functional response. However, the handling time of the predator was lower (1.943 h) and there was a higher T/T h ratio on the non-parasitized larvae (12.352). Our findings indicate E. annulipes as a promising biological control agent of D. saccharalis, with a potential to assist in the sugarcane borer management approaches and could to reduce the costs of parasitoid release in the field. Introduction Sugarcane is an important food-producing commercial crop cul- tivated in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, being one of the most economic crops in Brazilian agribusiness (Cherubin et al 2017, Tomaz et al 2017, Bento et al 2018). The sugarcane borer (SCB), Diatraea saccharalis (F.) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), is one of the most damaging pests to the crop (Huang et al 2007, Dinardo-Miranda 2008, Sidhu et al 2013). SCB damages sugarcane by tunneling within the stalks, causing posterior death of young plants and decreasing productivity in older plants (Dinardo-Miranda et al 2012). Chemical control of D. saccharalis is ineffective due to the placement of larvae within stalks where they are less con- spicuous. Thus, management of this pest is based on biolog- ical control approaches using the endoparasitoid Cotesia flavipes Cameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) (Dinardo- Miranda 2008, Vacari et al 2012, Parra & Coelho 2019). This parasitoid is one of the most effective biocontrol agents of Diatraea spp., and because of its ability to forage and locate the host within the stalk, it was introduced in Brazil from Asia in 1970 (Botelho & Macedo 2002). Since its introduction, using C. flavipes stands out as the main control strategy against the sugarcane borer in Brazilian sugarcane fields Neotrop Entomol https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-019-00731-3