A mixed species release of parasitoids is used to suppress outbreaks of tobacco whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae); however, this biocontrol may be inhibited by interspecific interactions. We investigated the effects of mixed releases of natural enemies of B. tabaci on predation rates, parasite performance and adult parasitoid emergence under greenhouse conditions. We tested the ...

Early-tier studies are the initial step in the environmental risk assessment of genetically engineered plants on nontarget arthropods. They are conducted in the laboratory where surrogate species are exposed to higher concentrations of the arthropod-active compound than those expected to occur in the Þeld. Thus, early-tier tests provide robust data and allow to make general conclusions about th...

The use of biological control agents to control pests is an alternative to pesticides and a tool to manage invasive alien species. However, biocontrol agents can themselves become invasive species under certain conditions. The harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) is a native Asian biocontrol agent that has become a successful invader. We reviewed articles containing "Harmonia axyridis" to gat...

A rape seed pollen-based diet was developed and found to be suitable for use in a dietary exposure assay for Propylea japonica. Using the diet, we established and validated a dietary exposure assay by using the protease inhibitor E-64 as positive control. Dose-dependent responses were documented for all observed life-table parameters of P. japonica including survival, pupation and eclosion rate...

The bioactivities of destruxins against whitefly, Bemisia tabaci and its natural enemy, ladybird beetle Serangium japonicum were evaluated. Destruxins A and B (DA and DB) showed insignificant ovicidal, oviposition deterrent and systemic insecticidal activities to B. tabaci; however, DA and DB had certain contact virulence to its nymphs. The LC(50) values of DA at 120h to 2nd, 3rd and 4th instar...

cryptoleamus montrouzieri is the most important natural enemy of pseudococcus citri. the effects of different temperatures and different densities of c. montrouzieri on predation rate, searching efficacy and mutual interference of the mentioned coccinellid feeding on the nymphs of p. citri was studied. hassel and varley model was applied for estimation of interference constant. according to the...

The importance of haplotype association and gene-environment interactions (GxE) in the context of rare variants has been underlined in voluminous literature. Recently, a software based on logistic Bayesian LASSO (LBL) was proposed for detecting GxE, where G is a rare (or common) haplotype variant (rHTV)-it is called LBL-GxE. However, it required relatively long computation time and could handle...

A new species of the genus Acerophagus Smith (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), A. belenaguirreae sp. n., is described from Vieques Island, Puerto Rico (USA) as a primary parasitoid mealybug Hypogeococcus (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) on Achyranthesaspera var. aspera (Amaranthaceae) and Portulaca (Portulacaceae). An identification key to females in New World with dark cross bands gastral dorsum provided....