Abstract: Kriechbaumerella dendrolimi is a dominant natural enemy in the pupal stage of Dendrolimus houi, an overwhelming caterpillar in southern coniferous forests in China. The natural hosts of this species were investigated to test for the relationship between host preference and performance and to provide a theoretical basis for its host shift and biological control potential in the field. To this end, we surveyed the Cryptomeria fortunei stand infested by D. houi, collected and identified the large-size moths, recorded the parasitic characteristics of K. dendrolimi and offspring wasp development from different hosts. Ten moth species with different pupal stages were collected during this survey. The results showed that K. dendrolimi differed in preference for pupae of different species, preferring D. houi pupae (93.33%) and taking the shortest time (163.98 s) to make decision. During the parasitic stage, K. dendrolimi accurately located and identified hosts like D.houi and D. kikuchii but decisively refused non hosts Brahmaea hearseyi and Saturnia japonica. K. dendrolimi offspring were obtained from pupae of 7 species, such as D. houi,ttacus atlas,D. kikuchii, Antheraea frithi,Samia Cynthia,Saturnia pyretorum,andD. punctatus, although they differed in certain biological characteristics. K. dendrolimi offspring from D. houi were the greatest in population size and the biggest in body size, while those from D. punctatus were of the smallest population size and body size, except for Antheraea pernyi. In conclusion, there are abundant moth species in the forest stands that can support the annual life history of K. dendrolimi and the sustainable pest control in the forests.

Key words: Kriechbaumerella dendrolimi, parasitic characteristics, host selectivity, host fitness