the aphidiine parasitoids (hym., braconidae) attacking the pest aphids on various pome and stone fruit trees in different parts of iranwere studied. a total of 13 species belonging to seven genera of aphid parasitoids were identified in association with 17 aphid species on 10 different species of fruit trees. sixty nine tritrophic associations were detected from the studied area of which 25 ass...

dna extraction with an appropriate quality and quantity is the first step in molecular identification of some group of insects that their identification morphologically is difficult and dependent on a particular life stage, size or gender. selection of a suitable protocol is a key factor to provide a pure dna. in this study quality and quantity of five extraction methods used in entomological l...

Functioning of plant-aphid-natural enemy interactions may be associated with the structure and composition of withinfield vegetation, neighborhood fields and field borders, and the regional plant community of cropped and noncropped areas. Farmand region-scale vegetation in the wheat-growing area of the North American Great Plains was hypothesized to effect the abundance of two hymenopteran para...

Temperature variation is an important factor determining the outcomes of interspecific interactions, including those involving hosts and parasites. This can apply to variation in average temperature or to relatively short but intense bouts of extreme temperature. We investigated the effect of heat shock on the ability of aphids (Aphis fabae) harbouring protective facultative endosymbionts (Hami...