Traps baited with synthetic lures (ammonium acetate and putrescine) captured as many Mexican fruit flies as the traditional torula yeast/borax slurry, but with far fewer (ratio 5:1) nontarget insects. Ninety percent of the nontarget insects were dipterans. Consequently, neither trap is efficacious against other citrus pests, which are mainly Hemiptera or Lepidoptera. Although the nontarget catc...

One of the consequences of the expansion is the health conditions of the bees in the countries where they are found today. It is known that the honey bees are susceptible to several diseases and bee pests such as EFB, AFB, Nosema, Amoeba, Sacbrood, Chalkbrood, Acarine, Varroosis, Viruses etc. The two most important diseases of honey bees are Varroosis and American Foulbrood (AFB) (DE JONG, 1994...

Distribution data for the Evanioidea are taken from Crosskey (1951), with additional references given under notes for each taxon. This is a small superfamily of three extant families, but particularly poorly represented in northern Europe. The Evaniidae (sometimes referred to as 'ensign wasps') are, where known, parasitoids/predators of cockroach oothecae (Crosskey 1951; Brown 1973) and are mor...

Several recombinant antibodies against the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae), one of the most important pests in agriculture worldwide, were selected for the first time from a commercial phage display library of human scFv antibodies. The specificity and sensitivity of the selected recombinant antibodies were compared with that of a rabbit polyclonal...

Biological control using Trichogramma pretiosum Riley (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae), an egg parasitoid wasp, was tested in Uruguay to reduce populations of lepidopteran pests on soybeans. It was observed that the commercial parasitoid dispensers, which were made of cardboard, were vulnerable to small predators that succeeded in entering and emptying the containers of all the eggs parasitized...

Canopy structure has an important role to play in determining the searching patterns of predators of insect pests in crops. The connections between plants within the canopy are crucial in determining the ability of predators to move around the canopy. Virtual plant models provide an ideal method for providing a realistic background for modelling the movement of insects in plant canopies. Experi...

Numerous lab and field studies have reported the potential of soil predatory mites for biological control plant-parasitic nematodes arthropods pests. Most these utilized biocontrol agents in augmentative releases, essentially controlling pest with released predators. While this may be a valid approach, we hypothesize that conservation mite predators available, suitable, accessible free-living a...

Local generalist predators can be exploited in conservation biological control of agricultural pests. To conserve and promote the most important predators, it is critical to have detailed knowledge about their prey range under natural conditions. I have studied predator-prey interactions between lycosid spiders from the genus Pardosa and a major aphid pest in spring-sown cereals; Rhopalosiphum ...