in the current study some information is presented about the distribution and associations between alfalfa aphids and their parasitoids in different regions in 11 provinces of iran, as well as an identification key to the parasitoids. the main aphids were therioaphis trifolii maculata (buckton) and acyrthosiphon pisum (harris) followed by aphis craccivora koch and acyrthosiphon kondoi shinji. t...

different species of aphids in rapeseed fields of khuzestan province were identified and the dominant ones were determined during 2002-2004 field sampling. base upon the collected data, population fluctuations of rapeseed aphids vs. their natural enemies were assessed. also biology of the aphids, major species was studied under controlled conditions. the results showed that lipaphis erysimi (ka...

The aphid parasitoid Aphidius rhopalosiphi is the most abundant species of Aphidiinae in cereal fields in northern Europe. Although the larval morphology of other Aphidiinae has been described, the morphology and immature development of A. rhopalosiphi remain unknown. Our goal is to relate growth and larval developmental stages to morphological changes during parasitoid development, using light...

The presence of nonprey or nonhosts is known to reduce the strength of consumer- resource interactions by increasing the consumer's effort needed to find its resource. These interference effects can have a stabilizing effect on consumer-resource dynamics, but have also been invoked to explain parasitoid extinctions. To understand how nonhosts affect parasitoids, we manipulated the density and d...

During parasitoid development, the immature parasitoid is confined to the host species. As a result, any potential to modify the physiology or behaviour of the host could play an important role in parasitoid fitness. The potential for host manipulation by the aphid parasitoid Aphidius avenae to increase cold thermotolerance was investigated using the aphid host species Metopolophium dirhodum an...