Abstract: To gain insight into the foraging behavior of Meteorus pulchricornis in field, the potential flight capability of M. pulchricornis was measured on a flight mill, and two field releases were conducted in soybean field to measure the parasitism as affected by the release direction, time, and distance through the recapture and collection of Spodoptera litura larva hosts. The flight mill test showed that the number of taking-off was 14.48±0.82, total flight distance was 1283.00 m±45.60 m, overall flight duration was 2374.79 s±89.91 s, flight velocity was 0.54 m·s^-1±0.004 m·s^-1, and the longest single flight duration was 475.21 s±76.97 s. Field release trial indicated that release direction did not affect the parasitism significantly at the wind speed ≤4.2 m·s^-1, but the parasitism varied significantly with release time and distance. The parasitism decreased with the increase of the time elapsed and  the distance away from the release point. The parasitoid could disperse 36 meters away in one day. Based on these results, the characteristics of the foraging behavior of M. pulchricornis in field were discussed.

Key words: Winter wheat, Corn, Multiple cropping, Ecophysiological effects