Vibrational Communication of Scolypopa australis (Walker, 1851) (Hemiptera: Ricaniidae)—Towards a Novel Sustainable Pest Management Tool

A study was undertaken to determine whether Scolypopa australis, the passionvine hopper, communicates using substrate-borne vibrations, as its use of such signals for communication is currently unknown. This insect is a costly pest to the kiwifruit industry in New Zealand, where few pest management tools can be used during the growing season. Vibrations emitted by virgin females and males of S. australis released alone on leaves of Griselinia littoralis were recorded with a laser vibrometer to identify and characterise potential spontaneous calling signals produced by either sex. In addition to single-insect trials, preliminary tests were conducted with female–male pair trials to determine whether individuals exchanged signals. The signal repertoire of S. australis includes a male calling signal and two female calling signals. However, no evidence of duetting behaviour that is potentially necessary for pair formation has been found to date. Our outcome suggests that a deeper understanding of the role of vibrational communication employed by S. australis is needed, and by disclosing the pair formation process, a new residue-free pest management tool against this pest may be developed. In addition, this vibration-based tool could contribute to future biosecurity preparedness and response initiatives.

Biogeographical Patterns of Herbivore Arthropods Associated with Chenopodium quinoa Grown along the Latitudinal Gradient of Chile

Identifying the particular guilds of herbivore arthropods that affect the production of crops is key to developing sustainable pest-management strategies; however, there is incomplete information about the identity of herbivore arthropods that could potentially damage the production of both highland and lowland quinoa landraces grown in Chile. By both reviewing the literature and conducting field collections across a large latitudinal gradient, we generated an updated list of 43 herbivore arthropods associated with quinoa production in Chile. In general, most species are polyphagous feeders, and only seven are specialists. The number and identity of species varied in relation with the latitude, such that four distinctive assemblages of herbivores were identified, each containing 32, 27, 34, and 22 species between latitudes 18–26, 26–32, 32–40, and 40–44° S, respectively. The most northern production area (18–26° S) is affected by nine unique species, including the major quinoa pest Eurysacca quinoae Povolný (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). Similarly, the central area (32–40° S) contains four unique species, including Eurysacca media Povolný (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) and Orthotylus flavosparsus (Sahlberg) (Hemiptera: Miridae). The particular species assemblages described here will help further development of local pest-management practices.

Effects of Prosopis africana (Guill. & Perr.) Taub. and Ficus mucoso Ficalho ethanolic leaves extract in the control of Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricius, 1775) in stored cowpea

<p>The study investigated the effectiveness of <em>Prosopis africana</em> and <em>Ficus mucoso</em> ethanolic leave extract in the control of <em>Callosobruchus maculatus</em> infesting cowpea. Treatments were applied at different concentrations (10 %, 30 % , 50 %, and 0 %) on cowpea. Five pairs of newly emerged adult <em>C. maculatus</em> were introduced into each treatment. The two botanicals were evaluated on the insecticidal effects it has on the insect and data were recorded on adult mortality, oviposition rate, larvae, pupae, and adult emergence, seed viability, and phytochemicals present in both botanicals. Results revealed that both treatments had insecticidal potentials, adversely reducing the number of eggs, larvae, and pupae of <em>C. maculatus</em> with <em>P. africana</em> having the highest mean mortality rate at 50 % concentration. Observations further indicated that the botanicals had no negative effect on seed viability. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of some bioactive compounds such as terpenoids, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponin, steroids, and tannin, <em>P. africana</em> mostly rich in them than <em>F. mucoso</em>. Though both extracts were effective, <em>P. africana</em> performed better in the control of the bruchid beetle indicating plausible usefulness in sustainable pest management by smallholder farmers and consumers of cowpea in environments where the plants are in abundance.</p>

Integrated Pest Management for Cucurbits in Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

The vegetables belonging to family cucurbitaceae are known as cucurbits. These vegetables are attacked by various insect pests right from seeding to harvest. A lot of money, time, and natural resources are invested to cultivate these vegetables. Sustainable pest management practices can save this investment by avoiding losses. Successful cultivation of cucurbits especially cucumber requires an effective and economical control of insect pests. Commercial vegetable growers must produce quality vegetables that are attractive and safe to the consumer at a minimum cost. Insect pest infestations in cucurbits cause heavy economic losses to farmers through reduction in yield, increased cost of production and lowered quality of produce. Effective and economic and sustainable pest management requires the use of cultural, mechanical, biological, and chemical methods. The integration of these different methods is necessary for achieving good management of pests. In case of cucurbits especially for cucumber pest management can be achieved only by a long-term assurance to integrated pest management practices (IPM). IPM involves the strategic use of resistant varieties, monitoring of pest incidence, cultural methods, mechanical removal of pest, biological control, and need based use of selective pesticides. Integrated pest management (IPM) is the alternative to insecticide and facilitates sustainable environment management.

Relative toxicity of two natural compounds compared to abamectin against some soybean pests under period rates

A sustainable pest management in agro-ecosystems requires parallel assessments of pesticide and natural compounds to control target pests. In the present study, a semi-field experiment was conducted to evaluate the relative toxicity of abamectin (Abamax), humic acid, and Chitosan Nano-Particles (C.N.Ps) against four soybean pests: Tetranychus urticae, Eutetranychus orientalis, Bemisia tabaci, and Phenacoccus solenopsis. The experimental treatments were arranged in a split-plot design with three replicates, where treatments were assigned to main plots and pest populations under different periods in the subplots. The obtained results and graphs demonstrated that there were considerable differences between the total numbers of pests after different periods of treatment. Generally, E. orientalis recorded the minimum pest number at all. Different tested compounds demonstrated a considerable correlation between the densities of the pests. T. urticae exhibited a significant correlation with the other three pests (E. orientalis, B. tabaci, and P. solenopsis). E. orientalis did not correlate with B. tabaci and P. solenopsis. The humic acid recorded the best effect on T. urticae after 3 days with a reduction of 85.45% and E. orientalis after 7 days 65.55%. However, Chitosan Nano-Particles (C.N.Ps) was the best for E. orientalis after 14 days (mortality 74.36%). In contrast, abamectin (Abamax) had a general mean of reduction of 91.17% against T. urticae, whenever, these compounds are promising for controlling T. urticae, E. orientalis, B. tabaci, and P. solenopsis. These results may be a supporting method to overcome some soybean pests. The findings are discussed within the context of integrated management of soybean pests under semi-field conditions.

Selectivity of Entomopathogenic Fungi to Chrysoperla externa (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae)

We aimed to evaluate the selectivity of entomopathogenic fungi to larvae of Chrysoperla externa (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). For this purpose, Beauveria bassiana (strain ESALQ PL63), Metarhizium anisopliae (strain ESALQ E9) and Metarhizium rileyi (strain UFMS 03) were assessed at different concentrations (1 × 107, 1 × 108 and 1 × 109 conidia mL−1). The control treatment consisted of distilled water and Tween80 0.01. The treatments were applied with a Potter spray tower using two different methodologies: direct application (DA) and dry film (DF). Up to 96 h after application, no treatment provided a larval mortality above 3%. After 120 h, only B. bassiana induced significant mortality in all instars, with rates of 26%, 17% and 10% for first, second and third instar larval periods, respectively. There was no difference regarding to the application method or concentration of conidia. The percentage of individuals that revealed changes in the length of the larval and pupal periods varied among different treatments with entomopathogenic fungi and control treatments, application methodologies and concentrations. Despite B. bassiana revealing a higher mortality than M. anisopliae and M. rileyi on larvae of C. externa, these three entomopathogenic fungi may be used in association with C. externa for sustainable pest management.