Omnivory is common among arthropods, but little is known about how availability of plant resources and prey affects interactions between species operating at the third and fourth trophic level. We used laboratory and field cage experiments to investigate how the provision of flowers affects an omnivorous lacewing, Micromus tasmaniae (Hemerobiidae) and its parasitoid Anacharis zealandica (Figiti...

Many insects carry facultative bacterial symbionts, which provide benefits including resistance to natural enemies and abiotic stresses. Little is known about how these beneficial phenotypes are affected when biotic or abiotic threats occur simultaneously. The pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) can host several well-characterized symbiont species. The symbiont known as X-type can protect against b...

The predator and parasitoid fauna associated with cereal aphids is described, emphasizing the fauna associated with classical biological control efforts against the greenbug and Russian wheat aphid. We focus on literature from North America and include work from Europe and elsewhere when it is desirable to draw contrasts between approaches that affect cereal aphid biological control. Effects on...

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is recognized as a widespread and increasingly important anthropogenic environmental pressure on wild species and their interactions. Understanding of how these impacts translate into changes in population dynamics of communities with multiple trophic levels is, however, severely lacking. In an outdoor mesocosm experiment we tested the effect of ALAN on the popu...

The Asian parasitoid, Binodoxys communis (Gahan) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), is a candidate for release against the exotic soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae), in North America. In this study, we examined preferences by B. communis for the different developmental stages of A. glycines and investigated consequences of these preferences for parasitoid fitness. We also de...

The brown citrus aphid, Toxoptera citricida (Kirkaldy), is an important pest of Florida citriculture because it causes feeding damage to citrus and vectors citrus tristeza virus. Parasitoids recovered from brown citrus aphids in Florida include Lysiphlebus testaceipes (Cresson), Lipolexis scutellaris Mackauer, and Aphelinus gossypii Timberlake. Monitoring the levels of parasitism caused byeach ...

the asiatic citrus psyllid, diaphorina citri kuwayama (hom.: psyllidae), is one of the most important pests on citrus in tropical and subtropical asia. it was detected in iran during the recent years and distributed in some parts of hormozgan and sistan-baluchestan provinces. during the survey carried out to determine natural enemies of this psyllid, a nymphal parasitoid wasp was identified as ...

in the course of study on larval parasitoids of carob moth, ectomyelois ceratoniae zeller (lep.: pyralidae), an hyperparasitoid wasp, pachycrepoideus vindemmiae rondani, was collected from pupae of apanteles sp. (hym.: braconidae). the latter species is the larval parasitoid of the carob moth. the p. vindemmiae belongs to the family pteromalidae and is a new record for iran insect fauna.

BACKGROUND Parasitoids are frequently used in biological control due to the fact that they are considered host specific and highly efficient at attacking their hosts. As they spend a significant part of their life cycle within their hosts, feeding habits and life history of their host can promote specialization via host-race formation (sequential radiation). The specialized host races from diff...

Homogeneity in azinphosmethyl resistance was assessed in males of a laboratory-selected (Select-H) and susceptible (Yolo) colony of Trioxys pallidus (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) using a time response assay. No evidence of heterogeneity within the two colonies was found. Reciprocal crosses between the Yolo and Select-19 colonies resulted in F1 females which exhibited a semidominant response to azin...