Sex pheromones have rarely been studied in parasitoids, and it remains largely unknown how male and female parasitoids locate each other. We investigated possible attraction (and repellency) between the sexes of two braconid wasps belonging to the same genus, the gregarious parasitoid, Cotesia glomerata (L.), and the solitary parasitoid, Cotesia marginiventris (Cresson). Males of both species w...

A combination of magnetic susceptibility and Mossbauer measurements on quasicrystalline i­ Ah4Mn2o-xFexSi6 (0.02 ~ x ~ 7.5) establishes that Mn atoms in i-Ab4Mn2oSi6 occupy two distinct classes of sites, and that Fe substitutes for only one of them. The two classes are distinguished by the possession or otherwise of a localized magnetic moment. The data are consistent with a structure of in­ te...

A survey was conducted from May to Oct of 2011 of the parasitoid community of the imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), in cole crops in part of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. The findings of our survey indicate that Cotesia rubecula (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) now occurs as far west as North Dakota and has become the dominant parasitoid of P. rapae in th...

Attempts to control diamondback moth Plutella xylostella (L.) using insect parasitoids have not been entirely successful. Parasitoids which have been utilized include Diadegma species and Cotesia plutellae. A better understanding of the systematics of these Hymenoptera could lead to their more effective exploitation in biological control. Diadegma is a very large and difficult genus of lchneumo...

The cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, produces pierisin-1, a protein inducing apoptosis of mammalian cells. In the present study, the biological activity of pierisin-1 as a protective agent against parasitic wasps for P. rapae was examined. Pierisin-1 caused detrimental effects on eggs and larvae of non-habitual parasitoids for P. rapae, Glyptapanteles pallipes, Cotesia kariyai and Cotesia...

Nearly 3,500 specimens of microgastrine wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) were reared during caterpillar surveys undertaken in 2010-2013 across India, covering 16 States and one Union Territory (Andaman & Nicobar islands), and deposited in the National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects, Bangalore, India. The caterpillar inventory recovered over two hundred morpho-species within 22 famili...

Pieris napi oleracea Harris is a native pierid butterfly that has suffered a range reduction in New England that began after the invasion of its range by the non-native congener Pieris rapae L. and one of its braconid parasitoids, Cotesia glomerata (L.). P. napi has nearly disappeared from Massachusetts, but remains common in northern Vermont. We investigated food plant abundance and Cotesia sp...

Five species of parasitic wasps associated with hesperiids from peninsular India are documented along with the description of a new species of gregarious endoparasitoid, Dolichogenidea cinnarae sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) parasitic on caterpillar of Borbo cinnara (Wallace) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae). Also, the gregarious larval parasitoid, Cotesia erionotae (Wilkinson) (Braconidae) and s...