The accurate measurement of parasitoid impact on diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) populations is important to both the evaluation of exotic parasitoids for introduction, and to the integration of parasitoids with other cropping practices, particularly pesticides. Parasitoid impact is usually measured by samples for percent parasitism. Problems with the accuracy of this approach, and i...

Fopius ceratitivorus Wharton is the most recently imported parasitoid for biological control of tephritid fruit flies in Hawaii. In this paper we summarize current progress on studies of this parasitoid under quarantine conditions in Hawaii. Tests on its potential target host range reveal that F. ceratitivorus attacks and completes its development only in the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis ...

This study quantitatively describes the host-searching behavior of Fopius arisanus (Sonan) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), an important egg-larval parasitoid of tephritid fruit fly pests, on coffee berries infested with host eggs of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae). We also investigate the parasitoid’s response to local variation in host patch qualit...

In 1995 and 1996, we conducted a study of the hymenopteran parasitoids of macrolepidopteran larvae in the George Washington National Forest (GWNF), Augusta County, Virginia, and the Monongahela National Forest (MNF), Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Macrolepidopteran larvae were collected from canopy foliage and from under canvas bands placed around tree boles. A total of 115 macrolepidopteran...

Aphids commonly harbor bacterial facultative symbionts that have a variety of effects upon their aphid hosts, including defense against hymenopteran parasitoids and fungal pathogens. The soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is infected with the symbiont Arsenophonus sp., which has an unknown role in its aphid host. Our research goals were to document the infection fre...

Ganaspis xanthopoda is a solitary larval parasitoid wasp of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The life cycle of Ganaspis xanthopoda in the wild-type and developmental mutant ecdysoneless strains of Drosophila melanogaster is described. The female infects a second-instar host larva. The parasitoid embryo hatches into a mobile first-instar (L1) larva. The L1 parasitoid has fleshy appendages ...

To evaluate the effect of egg age of Spartocera dentiventris (Berg) on the parasitism by Gryon gallardoi (Brethes), groups of 12 eggs of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 12 days old were exposed to one female of G. gallardoi on a test tube, with the wasp observed for 2h subsequently. Later, the eggs were individualised and incubated (25 +/- 1 degrees C; 12h photoperiod) until adult emergence. To identi...

How geographically widespread biological communities assemble remains a major question in ecology. Do parallel population histories allow sustained interactions (such as host-parasite or plant-pollinator) among species, or do discordant histories necessarily interrupt them? Though few empirical data exist, these issues are central to our understanding of multispecies evolutionary dynamics. Here...

Many species of endoparasitoid wasps provide biological control services in agroecosystems. Although there is a great deal of information on the ecology and physiology of host/parasitoid interactions, relatively little is known about the protein composition of venom and how specific venom proteins influence physiological systems within host insects. This is a crucial gap in our knowledge becaus...

Mealybug was considered to be a minor pest of cotton but it emerged as a major pest in 2006-2007 in North and Central zones. Extensive field surveys conducted in cotton fields during 2007-09 in Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab in the North zone and Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat in the Central zone indicated that Phenacoccus solenopsis was the only major species of mealybug recorded on co...