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 ...

Vertically transmitted symbionts of arthropods have been implicated in several reproductive manipulations of their hosts. These include cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), parthenogenesis induction in haplodiploid species (PI), feminization and male killing. One symbiont lineage in the alpha-Proteobacteria, Wolbachia, is the only bacterium known to cause all of these effects, and has been thought...

Between 1990 and 1995, the USDA/APHIS National Biological Control Laboratory in Niles, MI, Texas A&M University, and the University of Massachusetts conducted a biological control introduction program against the Asian diaspidid scale insect Unaspis euonymi (Comstock), a pest of woody landscape plants. Two species of predators ( Chilocorus kuwanae Silvestri, Coleop.: Coccinellidae and Cybocepha...

The oviposition decisions made by insect parasitoids when encountering hosts of variable quality have been the subject of extensive theoretical and experimental investigation. For parasitoids that lay their eggs inside the host, the possible outcomes of encounters with parasitized hosts have been assumed to include only oviposition (superparasitism), rejection, or in some cases feeding on host ...

Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is an intriguing, widespread, symbiont-induced reproductive failure that decreases offspring production of arthropods through crossing incompatibility of infected males with uninfected females or with females infected with a distinct symbiont genotype. For years, the molecular mechanism of CI remained unknown. Recent genomic, proteomic, biochemical, and cell bio...

The parasitoid wasp Encarsia smithi is an important agent in the classical biological control of two species of invasive spiny whiteflies, Aleurocanthus spiniferus and Aleurocanthus camelliae. To evaluate the performance of parasitism indexed by genetic diversity, a highly polymorphic genetic marker is required. In this report, nine microsatellite loci are described for E. smithi. The microsate...