The effect of hostage, the instar of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) parasitized, on the growth and development of Encarsia formosa (Gahan) was studied. E. formosa was able to parasitize and complete its life cycle no matter which instar of B. tabaci (Strain B), [also identified as B. argentifolii (Bellows and Perring)], was provided for oviposition, but parasitoid development was significantly slow...

BACKGROUND Orussus minutus is an uncommonly collected parasitoid sawfly known from the eastern United States. NEW INFORMATION We report specimens Orussus minutus Middlekauff, 1983, from Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and Manitoba, which represent new state and province records and significantly expand the known range of the species west from previous records; provide collection information for un...

Field surveys of parasitoids of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L), have indicated that Apanteles plutellae Kurdj may have a suppressing effect on the population of this insect. How important the parasitoid really is and to what extent it is beneficial is, however, not exactly known. This was, therefore, evaluated using an insecticide-check method whereby four treatments, each having dif...

The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the ribosomal DNA of house flies, Musca domestica L., the stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.), and four parasitoid species in the genus Muscidifurax (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) were characterized to develop a method based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to better define the role of pteromalid parasitism of pupae of the house fly and sta...

The introduction of an exotic species may alter food webs within the ecosystem and significantly affect the biodiversity of indigenous species at different trophic levels. It has been postulated that recent introduction of the brown marmorated stinkbug (Halyomorpha halys (Stål)) represents an evolutionary trap for native parasitoids, as they accept H. halys egg masses as a host but produce no v...

Baculoviruses may interact with parasitoids in the same host. A previous study has shown that infection of larvae with Spodoptera litura nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpltNPV) was deleterious to the survival and development of Meteorus pulchricornis (Wesmael) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). In this paper, the interactions between M. pulchricornis and Spodoptera exigua multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (SeMNPV) ...

telenomus beneficiens is a common egg parasitoid of sugarcane top borer scirpophaga excerptalis; however, in winter time the incidence of the parasitoid on top borer eggs is extremely low. t. beneficiens adults were released at various time durations into sugarcane plots to evaluate the parasitic potentiality of the parasitoid against sugarcane top-borer. the egg parasitoid t. beneficiens of su...

A new species of parasitoid wasp, Meteorus rugonasus Shaw and Jones (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), is described from the Yanayacu Biological Station, Napo Province, Ecuador. The new species is diagnosed and compared to other species in the genus. It was reared from larvae of Pteronymia zerlina (Hewitson, 1855) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Ithomiinae) found feeding on leaves of Solanum (Solanaceae). T...

An important assumption in insect parasitoid life-history theory is that, within parasitoid complexes (species assemblages associated with particular hosts), members attacking young host stages are more fecund than members targeting older ones. This hypothesis reflects the general trajectory of host survivorship curves: as a host cohort ages, availability to female parasitoids declines, as can ...

Parasitoids are mostly insects that develop at the expense of other arthropods, which will die as a result of the interaction. Their reproductive success thus totally depends on their ability to successfully infest their host whose reproductive success relies on its own ability to avoid or overcome parasitism. Such intense selective pressures have resulted in extremely diverse adaptations in pa...