The mass rearing of parasitoids represents a fundamental stage for programmes of biological control. The progeny of the parasitoid Palmistichus elaeisis Delvare and LaSalle (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) were evaluated on previously refrigerated pupae of Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae). Forty-eight to 72 hours-old pupae of B. mori were stored at 10 degrees C for five, 10, 15 or 20 days and ...

Recent attention has focused on the harmful effects of introduced biological control agents on nontarget species. The parasitoid Compsilura concinnata is a notable example of such biological control gone wrong. Introduced in 1906 primarily for control of gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, this tachinid fly now attacks more than 180 species of native Lepidoptera in North America. While it did not pre...

Autoparasitoids, an important class of intraguild predators used in classical biological control, have a unique biology. Females develop as primary endoparasitoids of scale insects and whiteflies. Males develop at the expense of conspecific or heterospecific parasitoid prepupae. To evaluate the effect of autoparasitism on host suppression, system stability, and parasitoid coexistence, stage-str...

Most of the unknown biological diversity of macro-organisms remaining to be discovered and described lies in the tropical regions of the world and consists primarily of insects. Those insects with parasitoid lifestyles constitute a significant portion of insect diversity, yet parasitoids are among the most poorly known of major insect guilds in the humid tropics. Here we describe and analyze th...

A multilateral approach that includes both biotic and climatic data was developed to detect the main variables that affect the ecology and population dynamics of woolly apple aphid Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausmann). Crawlers migrated up and down the trunk mainly from spring to autumn and horizontal migration through the canopy was observed from May to August. Winter temperatures did not kill the ca...

The genera Tenupedunculus Schultz, 1982 and Stenobermuda Schultz, 1979 are recorded for the first time from beyond the Southern Ocean, at the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Tenupedunculus serrulatussp. n. and Stenobermuda waroogasp. n. are described from Heron Island and Lizard Island respectively, both in the Great Barrier Reef. The genus Tenupedunculus is revised and a new diagnosis presented...

Behavioral tactics play a crucial role in the evolution of species and are likely to be found in host-parasitoid interactions where host quality may differ between host developmental stages. We investigated foraging decisions, parasitism and related fitness in a gregarious ectoparasitoid, Sclerodermus harmandi in relation to two distinct host developmental stages: larvae and pupae. Two colonies...

The effects of biotic and abiotic factors on stem borer parasitoid diversity, abundance, and parasitism were studied in cultivated and natural habitats in four agroecological zones in Kenya. Comparing habitat types, we found partial support for the "natural enemy" hypothesis, whereby, across all localities, parasitoid diversity was higher in more diverse host plant communities in natural habita...

Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, heim and Hongkham 1996). Multiple egg clutches may California 95616 be selected for if the additional eggs serve as ‘‘insurance eggs,’’ thereby increasing the probability that one offSubmitted November 10, 1997; Accepted May 19, 1998 spring will successfully emerge from a host (Rosenheim 1993; Rosenheim and Hongkham 1996). Once multiple...

A large number of repeats of a satellite DNA (stDNA) family have been cloned and sequenced from species and populations of the genus Pimelia (Tenebrionidae, Coleoptera). The beetles were collected in the Canary Islands, Morocco, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Balearic Islands in order to analyze the evolutionary forces and processes acting on abundant stDNAs conserved at the genus level. This r...