The Diaprepes root weevil, Diaprepes abbreviatus, is a pest of vegetables, ornamental plants, sugarcane, and citrus in Florida and the Caribbean. The entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema riobrave, can reduce larval populations of D. abbreviatus substantially. Efficacy of entomopathogenic nematodes, however, may be affected by culture method and formulation. Using D. abbreviatus as the host, w...

Photorhabdus luminescens is a gram negative symbiotic bacterium belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae, and is a lethal pathogen of insects. It lives in the gut of an entomopathogenic nematode of the family Heterorhabditidae. When the nematode infects an insect, P. luminescensis released into the blood stream and rapidly kills the insect host by producing toxins. So the present study was ca...

A simple null model, particularly germane to small and vulnerable organisms such as parasites, is that local conditions set a stage upon which larger-scale dynamics play out. Soil moisture strongly influences survival of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN), which in turn drive trophic cascades by protecting vegetation from root-feeding herbivores. In this study, we examine the mechanisms responsib...

Steinernema riobrave ranks as the most efficacious entomopathogenic nematode for inundative biological control (biopesticide) applications against larvae of the root weevil Diaprepes abbreviatus in Florida citrus groves and has been commercially available for several years. However, only one strain is known, and others could be more effective. Therefore, we used two soil sampling techniques (co...

In biological control programmes introduced natural enemies compete with indigenous enemies for hosts and may also engage in intraguild predation when two species competing for the same prey attack and consume one another. The large pine weevil, Hylobius abietis L. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is an important pest of coniferous reforestation in Europe. Among its natural enemies, the parasitoid ...