What is the term for an insect that is not the preferred host but is used for the production of parasitoids?

✅ Explanation: A factitious host is an insect that is not the natural or preferred host of a parasitoid but is used in its mass production, often in laboratory or commercial settings. These hosts are typically chosen for their ease of rearing, availability, and cost-effectiveness, allowing for large-scale production of parasitoids for biological pest control.
Used for the production of parasitoids as an alternative to the natural host. For example, Corcyra cephalonica is a commonly used factitious host in the mass rearing of parasitoids like Trichogramma.

📌Other Options Explanations:
Facultative host: A facultative host refers to a host that a parasitoid or pest can exploit under certain conditions.
Obligate host: An obligate host is essential for the parasitoid's lifecycle.

🛑 Additional Information::
Parasites: A parasite is an organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food from or at the expense of its host. Eg. protozoa, helminths, and ectoparasites.
Parasites can be divided into two types: 
Obligate Parasite: When the parasite cannot complete its life cycle without the exploitation of the host i.e it requires a host for its growth, reproduction & survival then it is called an Obligate parasite
Facultative Parasite: This type of parasite do not depend on its host for the completion of its life cycle