Natural enemies ofAnthonomus eugenii(Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 150 (3) ◽  
pp. 404-411
Author(s):  
R.M. Labbé ◽  
R. Hilker ◽  
D. Gagnier ◽  
C. McCreary ◽  
G.A.P. Gibson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Natural Enemy ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Southern Ontario ◽  
Anthonomus Eugenii ◽  
Pepper Fruit ◽  
Important Pest ◽  
Infested Field ◽  
Pepper Weevil

AbstractThe pepper weevil,Anthonomus eugeniiCano (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is the most important pest of pepper (CapsicumLinnaeus; Solanaceae) crops in North America. Native to Mexico, the southern United States of America, and Central America, it is intercepted in Canada when peppers are imported to supplement domestic production. Given the proximity of greenhouse and field production to packing facilities, this pest poses a serious risk to the cultivation of peppers in Canada. Once established, it is difficult to control because immature stages of the weevil are protected within the pepper fruit. As such, chemical control targeting these life stages is not effective, and other strategies, including biological control, may prove useful. To explore the potential for biological control options to manage the pepper weevil in areas at risk in Canada, natural enemy surveys were conducted in southern Ontario following the reports of transient, localised field populations in 2016. Parasitoids belonging to three Hymenoptera families including Pteromalidae (Jaliscoa hunteriCrawford,Pteromalus anthonomiAshmead), Eupelmidae (Eupelmus pulchricepsCameron), and Braconidae (NealiolusMason species,BraconFabricius species) were reared from infested field-collected pepper fruits. Together, these new natural enemy records could facilitate the exploration and development of novel agents for the biological control of the pepper weevil.

Assessing New Tools for Management of the Pepper Weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Greenhouse and Field Pepper Crops

2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 1903-1912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roselyne M Labbé ◽  
Dana Gagnier ◽  
Rebecca Rizzato ◽  
Amanda Tracey ◽  
Cara McCreary
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Management ◽  
Mineral Oil ◽  
Positive Control ◽  
Kaolin Clay ◽  
Anthonomus Eugenii ◽  
Spray Tower ◽  
Important Pest ◽  
Pepper Weevil ◽  
Fruit Abortion ◽  
Adult Weevil

Abstract The pepper weevil, Anthonomus eugenii Cano, is an economically important pest of field and greenhouse pepper crops in North America. In this study, a series of insecticides covering a broad-spectrum of insecticidal modes of action were assessed for their potential in managing the pepper weevil under laboratory and greenhouse conditions. To accomplish this, laboratory mini-spray tower and greenhouse cage trials were conducted that evaluated the efficacy of 16 conventional, reduced-risk, and microbial insecticides. In laboratory trials, adult weevils were sprayed with insecticides, placed on treated leaves within a cup cage, and were monitored for their survival over 10 d. Of the 16 insecticides tested, 8 provided greater than 60% weevil control, a threshold considered necessary for including products in further greenhouse testing. In greenhouse trials, adult weevil mortality, bud and foliar damage, bud and fruit abortion, and subsequent weevil offspring emergence were measured following each of three weekly insecticide applications. The most efficacious insecticides included kaolin clay and mineral oil, which performed as well as the thiamethoxam-positive control, and incurred 70 and 55% of adult weevil mortality, respectively. Additionally, kaolin clay and mineral oil reduced offspring weevil emergence by 59 and 54%, respectively, compared with untreated controls. Despite the clear challenge that controlling this pest represents, this study has identified useful new tools for the integrated management of the pepper weevil, which may accelerate the rate at which these become available for use in greenhouse and field pepper production.

scholarly journals Pepper (Capsicum spp.) Wound Volatiles Suppress the Growth of Alternaria alternata, the Causal Agent of Internal Mold of Pepper

HortScience ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 678c-678
Author(s):  
Steven F. Vaughn ◽  
Fred J. Eller
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
Alternaria Alternata ◽  
Fungal Growth ◽  
Internal Mold ◽  
Hexenyl Acetate ◽  
Pepper Fruit ◽  
Hot Peppers ◽  
Important Pest ◽  
Capsicum Spp ◽  
Pepper Weevil

Internal mold of sweet and hot peppers (Capsicum spp.) is caused by the pathogen Alternaria alternata. The pepper weevil, Anthomonus eugenii Cano (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is an important pest of peppers in the southern U.S., Mexico, and Central America, and has been implicated in the transmission of the disease. We identified several volatiles released by pepper fruit during wounding by pepper weevils, including (E)-3-hexenyl acetate, linalool, beta-ocimene, and 3,7-dimethyl-1,3,6 octatriene (homoterpene). To study the roles of these volatiles in the interaction of the plant and fungus, we determined their effect on the growth of isolated cultures of A. alternata. Fungi were unaffected by any of the compounds when exposed to individual volatiles at 1 ppm; however, a 1 ppm mixture of the four compounds significantly reduced growth. All four compounds were inhibitory individually at 10 ppm, with linalool completely inhibiting fungal growth. These results indicate a role for these volatiles in the plant's response to infection by A. alternata.

Assessing the role of generalist predators in the biological control of alfalfa weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

2017 ◽  
Vol 149 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatyana A. Rand
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Biological Control ◽  
Experimental Work ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽  
The United States ◽  
Generalist Predators ◽  
Alfalfa Weevil ◽  
Exclusion Experiment ◽  
Predator Exclusion

AbstractAlfalfa weevil (Coleoptera:Curculionidae) is a major pest of alfalfa throughout the United States of America. Biological control research has disproportionately focussed on introduced parasitoids. Generalist predators may also be important, but experimental work evaluating their impacts is lacking. I combined a cross-site survey with a predator exclusion experiment to identify key predators, and test for impacts on weevil survival and plant defoliation levels in Montana and North Dakota, United States of America. Spiders (Araneae) dominated the complex, followed by Nabidae (Hemiptera) and Coccinellidae (Coleoptera). None of the dominant predators showed aggregative responses to weevil (Hypera postica (Gyllenhal); Coleoptera: Curculionidae) or pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris); Hemiptera: Aphididae) densities across 10 sites surveyed. However, weevil densities were positively correlated with both coccinellid and nabid densities across transects at the experimental site. Thus, predator groups traditionally associated with aphids can show strong aggregative numerical responses to alfalfa weevil larvae at smaller scales. Predator exclusion revealed no significant predator effects on larval survival or alfalfa damage. However, final densities of pea aphids were significantly higher in exclusion treatments relative to controls. The results suggest that even under conditions where predators exert significant pressure on aphids, they may still have minimal impacts on weevils. Additional experimental work is necessary to determine the broader potential of generalist predators as alfalfa weevil control agents.

scholarly journals Methyl Salicylate Fails to Enhance Arthropod Predator Abundance or Predator to Pest Ratios in Cotton

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven E Naranjo ◽  
James R Hagler ◽  
John A Byers
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
Natural Enemies ◽  
Natural Enemy ◽  
Methyl Salicylate ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Control Function ◽  
Conservation Biological Control ◽  
Cotton Production ◽  
Control Activity ◽  
Synthetic Chemicals

Abstract Conservation biological control is a fundamental tactic in integrated pest management (IPM). Greater biological control services can be achieved by enhancing agroecosystems to be more favorable to the presence, survival, and growth of natural enemy populations. One approach that has been tested in numerous agricultural systems is the deployment of synthetic chemicals that mimic those produced by the plant when under attack by pests. These signals may attract arthropod natural enemies to crop habitats and thus potentially improve biological control activity locally. A 2-yr field study was conducted in the cotton agroecosystem to evaluate the potential of synthetic methyl salicylate (MeSA) to attract native arthropod natural enemies and to enhance biological control services on two key pests. Slow-release packets of MeSA were deployed in replicated cotton plots season long. The abundance of multiple taxa of natural enemies and two major pests were monitored weekly by several sampling methods. The deployment of MeSA failed to increase natural enemy abundance and pest densities did not decline. Predator to prey ratios, used as a proxy to estimate biological control function, also largely failed to increase with MeSA deployment. One exception was a season-long increase in the ratio of Orius tristicolor (White) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) to Bemisia argentifolii Bellows and Perring (= Bemisia tabaci MEAM1) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) adults within the context of biological control informed action thresholds. Overall results suggest that MeSA would not likely enhance conservation biological control by the natural enemy community typical of U.S. western cotton production systems.

Friendly Foes: The Bio-control Agents

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalpana Singh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Biological Control ◽  
Bacillus Thuringiensis ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Control Agent ◽  
Mosquito Larvae ◽  
Bt Cotton ◽  
Economic Threshold ◽  
Pest Population ◽  
Natural Way

The bio-control agents are those organisms that manage the pest population in natural way and keep them below the economic threshold and are thus applied by the agency of man. This process is known as bio-control or biological control. They are foes to the pests and are thus beneficial and a friend for us. There are many pathogens (Bacillus thuringiensis, Bt cotton), parasites (parasitoids, ex. Parasitic wasps, tachinid flies) and predators (ex. Gambusia fish against mosquito larvae) that can be applied as bio-control agents. Many are being used as effective pest control agent in Europe and United States of America. There is lots of potential in this field and more explorations and researches need to be done in an agricultural country like India.

A new species of Aculops (Acari: Prostigmata: Eriophyidae) from Serbia on Dipsacus laciniatus L. (Dipsacaceae), a weed target of classical biological control in the United States of America

Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3192 (1) ◽  
pp. 59 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRIAN RECTOR ◽  
RADMILA U. PETANOVIĆ
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Control Program ◽  
Classical Biological Control ◽  
The United States ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Mite Species ◽  
The Family ◽  
Eriophyoid Mite ◽  
A New Species

A new eriophyoid mite species, Aculops orlovacae n. sp. (Acari: Prostigmata: Eriophyidae) collected from Dipsacus laciniatus L. (Dipsacaceae) in northern Serbia, is described and illustrated, including digital micrographs depicting key morphological characters. Differential diagnosis is provided in comparison with Aculops salixis Xue, Song et Hong, Aculops rhodensis (Keifer), Aculops hussongi Keifer and Aculops oblongus (Nalepa). This is the first eriophyoid mite species in the genus Aculops described from a host plant in the family Dipsacaceae and it is only the second eriophyoid known from a host species in the genus Dipsacus L. This mite was found during surveys for natural enemies of Dipsacus spp., as part of a classical biological control program.

scholarly journals Diversity and Distribution of Parasitoids of Anthonomus eugenii (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) from Mexico and Prospects for Biological Control

2007 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 693-702 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esteban Rodríguez-Leyva ◽  
Philip A. Stansly ◽  
David J. Schuster ◽  
Ernesto Bravo-Mosqueda
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
Anthonomus Eugenii
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