Mass Rearing of Egg Parasitoids for Biological Control Programs

The increasing body of knowledge about the armored scales is beginning to reveal manv unique aspects in the life cycles of these highly specialized insects. Such information is not only of value to the entomologist and those concerned with the control of scales but is also becoming important in such diverse fields as genetics, ecology, cytology, and physiology; armored scales may well find an expanding place in the laboratory as subjects for researches in a variety of fields. Pseudaulacaspis pentagona (Targ.) has one of the most unusual, yet to date one of the best understood life cycles of the armored scales. Various aspects of its biology have been described by Berlese (1910), Smit (1953), Dustan (1953), and Monti (1955). Accounts of its natural enemies or biological control programs have been given by Berlese (1910) for Italy, by Ogilvie (1928) and Simmonds (1955) for Bermuda, by Bennett (1956) for Trinidad, and Clausen (1956) for Florida. P. pentagona is a pest of economic importance on a wide variety of hosts throughout an extekive geographic distribution (Anon., 1956), and has been cultured extensively in the biological control laboratory for the mass-rearing of scale parasites and predators. Recent investirzations of the sex determining mechanik and chromosome behaviour (Brown and Bennett, 1957) have arain shown unusual processes and relationships, some of which appear to occur in many other species of armored scales. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the life cycle of P. pentagona as it is known from field and laboratory studies and from cytological and genetic investigations.

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Effects of temperature and superparasitism on quality and characteristics of thelytokous Wolbachia-infected Trichogramma dendrolimi Matsumura (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) during mass rearing

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-019-54719-5 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jin-Cheng Zhou ◽

Yuan-Yuan Li ◽

Quan-Quan Liu ◽

Su-Fang Ning ◽

Wu-Nan Che ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biological Control ◽

Mass Rearing ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Control Programs ◽

Male Ratio ◽

Lepidopteran Pests ◽

Fitness Parameters ◽

Effects Of Temperature ◽

Trichogramma Dendrolimi ◽

Host Behaviour

AbstractThelytokous Wolbachia-infected Trichogramma spp. are widely used egg parasitoids against lepidopteran pests in biological control programs. Wolbachia may manipulate host wasps for superparasitism and is sensitive to temperature. To explore effects of temperature and superparasitism, we compared fitness parameters and Wolbachia-mediated phenotype of thelytokous Wolbachia-infected Trichogramma dendrolimi between those emerging from superparasitised or single-parasitised hosts at 17, 21, 25, or 29 °C. Infected mothers of T. dendrolimi showed reduced superparasitism and parasitism increased with temperature. Wolbachia titre decreased with temperature when females emerged from singly-parasitised hosts, but there was no correlation in superparasitised hosts. Females showed higher Wolbachia titres at 21, 25, or 29 °C when developing from superparasitised hosts. The daily male ratio of offspring increased with temperature, and the day-age threshold for 5%, 50%, or 95% daily male ratio decreased with temperature in both parasitism forms. Females that emerged from superparasitised hosts had a shorter life span and reduced fecundity. These results indicate that Wolbachia may affect host behaviour by increasing superparasitism to enhance its spread, but this has negative effects on thelytokous Wolbachia-infected T. dendrolimi.

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Biological Control with Trichogramma in China: History, Present Status, and Perspectives

Annual Review of Entomology ◽

10.1146/annurev-ento-060120-091620 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 66 (1) ◽

pp. 463-484

Author(s):

Lian-Sheng Zang ◽

Su Wang ◽

Fan Zhang ◽

Nicolas Desneux

Keyword(s):

Biological Control ◽

Large Scale ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Mass Rearing ◽

Agricultural Pests ◽

Control Programs ◽

Augmentative Release ◽

History Of ◽

The 1960S ◽

Rearing Methods

Trichogramma species make up one of the most commonly used groups of natural enemies for biological control programs worldwide. Given the major successes in using Trichogramma to control economically important lepidopterous pests on agricultural crops in China, the biology and ecology of these wasps have been intensively studied to identify traits that contribute to successful biological control. Since the 1960s, improved mass production of Trichogramma and better augmentative release methods to suppress agricultural pests have been achieved. We review the history of research and development; current knowledge on biodiversity and bio-ecology of the species used; and achievements in mass-rearing methods, release strategies, and current large-scale applications in China. In addition, we discuss potential issues and challenges for Trichogramma research and applications in the future .

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Impact of the number of Spodoptera frugiperda egg layers on parasitism by Trichogramma atopovirilia

Scientia Agricola ◽

10.1590/s0103-90162005000200016 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 62 (2) ◽

pp. 190-193 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Eduardo Barbosa Beserra ◽

José Roberto Postali Parra

Keyword(s):

Biological Control ◽

Natural Enemies ◽

Spodoptera Frugiperda ◽

Fall Armyworm ◽

Egg Parasitoids ◽

Egg Masses ◽

Control Programs ◽

The Impact ◽

Lepidoptera Noctuidae

Egg parasitoids of the genus Trichogramma (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) can be found in several crops attacking Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith, 1797) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) eggs. It is therefore necessary to demonstrate the capacity of these natural enemies in suppressing populations of the pest to allow them to be used in biological control programs against that species. This work had the objective of evaluating the impact of egg layer distribution in S. frugiperda egg masses on the parasitism capacity of Trichogramma atopovirilia Oatman & Platner, 1983. Masses containing one, two, and three layers were used as treatments, and 1.6 parasitoid per egg of the pest were released. Parasitism percentage differences were observed among the three types of masses under study, on average 66.24 ± 8.56%, 45.20 ± 6.20%, and 40.10± 3.46% for egg masses with one, two, and three layers, respectively, demonstrating the potential of use of the parasitoid for the control of fall armyworm.

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First Report of Native Parasitoids of Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in Greece

Insects ◽

10.3390/insects12110984 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (11) ◽

pp. 984

Author(s):

Stefanos S. Andreadis ◽

Nikoloz E. Gogolashvili ◽

Georgios T. Fifis ◽

Emmanouel I. Navrozidis ◽

Thomas Thomidis

Keyword(s):

Biological Control ◽

Crop Production ◽

Egg Parasitoids ◽

Halyomorpha Halys ◽

Green Beans ◽

Northern Greece ◽

Egg Masses ◽

Control Programs ◽

Native Parasitoids ◽

Wide Range

Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is an endemic species of East Asia; it was introduced into Europe in 2007. It has a wide range of hosts as it feeds on over 170 host plant species and significantly impacts crop production. In Greece, H. halys causes significant losses in the production of kiwi, peaches, and green beans; thus, control of this species (including biological control) is essential. Here, we focus on the potential impact of native natural enemies of H. halys in Greece. From June to October 2020, we sampled naturally field-laid H. halys egg masses to recover native parasitoids. A total of 20 egg masses of H. halys were collected from infested fields from different locations in northern Greece. Out of 529 eggs, 45 parasitoids managed to hatch successfully. The overall parasitism rate was 8.5%. We found two species of Hymenopteran egg parasitoids attacking H. halys eggs—Anastatus bifasciatus (Geoffrey) (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) and Ooencyrtus telenomicida (Vassiliev) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), with the former comprising 58% of all parasitoids that were recovered. These results contribute to the knowledge about the natural enemy community that attacks H. halys in Greece, and the use of these native egg parasitoids in biological control programs may be a viable H. halys management strategy.

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Integrative taxonomy and phylogeography of Telenomus remus (Scelionidae), with the first record of natural parasitism of Spodoptera spp. in Brazil

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-93510-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ana P. G. S. Wengrat ◽

Aloisio Coelho Junior ◽

Jose R. P. Parra ◽

Tamara A. Takahashi ◽

Luis A. Foerster ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biological Control ◽

Mitochondrial Gene ◽

First Record ◽

Mass Rearing ◽

Classical Biological Control ◽

Egg Parasitoid ◽

Integrative Approach ◽

Agricultural Pests ◽

Telenomus Remus ◽

Natural Parasitism

AbstractThe egg parasitoid Telenomus remus (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) has been investigated for classical and applied biological control of noctuid pests, especially Spodoptera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) species. Although T. remus was introduced into Brazil over three decades ago for classical biological control of S. frugiperda, this wasp has not been recorded as established in corn or soybean crops. We used an integrative approach to identify T. remus, combining a taxonomic key based on the male genitalia with DNA barcoding, using a cytochrome c oxidase subunit I mitochondrial gene fragment. This is the first report of natural parasitism of T. remus on S. frugiperda and S. cosmioides eggs at two locations in Brazil. We also confirmed that the T. remus lineage in Brazil derives from a strain in Venezuela (originally from Papua New Guinea and introduced into the Americas, Africa, and Asia). The occurrence of T. remus parasitizing S. frugiperda and S. cosmioides eggs in field conditions, not associated with inundative releases, suggests that the species has managed to establish itself in the field in Brazil. This opens possibilities for future biological control programs, since T. remus shows good potential for mass rearing and egg parasitism of important agricultural pests such as Spodoptera species.

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