Many intracellular microbial symbionts of arthropods are strictly vertically transmitted and manipulate their host's reproduction in ways that enhance their own transmission. Rare horizontal transmission events are nonetheless necessary for symbiont spread to novel host lineages. Horizontal transmission has been mostly inferred from phylogenetic studies but the mechanisms of spread are still la...

Eretmocerus eremicus is the most abundant parasitoid of the Bemisia complex in North America. It can parasitize equally successfully the most common whiteflies in greenhouses, Trialeurodes vaporariorum and the Bemisia complex. The parasitoid is used in Europe for whitefly control, either alone or in combination with releases of Encarsia formosa. Life-cycle and demographic parameters of this par...

Behaviors of Eretmocerus sp. nr. californicus females attacking Bemisia argentifolii Bellows & Perring infesting cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., and melon, Cucumis melo L., were quantified. Adult female behaviors were described and quantified for Eret. sp. nr. californicus to establish a behavioral time budget analysis. Females readily searched for host whitefly nymphs on cotton leaves with walk...

Contagious sterility in the parasitoid wasp Eretmocerus mundus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) Elad Chiel a , Dan Gerling b , Shimon Steinberg c , Johannette Klapwijk d , Karel Bolckmans d & Einat Zchori-Fein a a Department of Entomology, Newe-Ya'ar Research Center, RamatYishay, 30095, ARO, Israel b Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, 69978, Israel c Bio-Bee Biological Systems, K...

The effects of application of an artificial honeydew mixture of glucose, fructose and trehalose (GFT), honey and Bemisia tabaci nymph-extract as kairomonal sources in enhancing the foraging efficiency and performance of Eretmocerus sp. near furuhashii on cucumber plants were studied. Experiments were conducted in small greenhouses (4×3×3 m) using life table methods. Life table data indicated th...

A study was conducted to evaluate the use of reflective mulch and host plant resistance for the management of the sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), in watermelon [Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus (Thunberg) Matsum & Nakai]. Whitefly abundance data were collected under both greenhouse (caged and uncaged) and field conditions. Consistently, a reflective mulc...