Abstract Background The greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) constitutes key pests of greenhouses and field crops, which have developed pesticide resistance over the years. It has emerged as a difficult pest to manage owing its indiscriminate exposure higher dosages insecticides. use natural enemies is environmentally safe alternative management tacti...

The functional response of Anisopteromalus calandrae (Howard) parasitizing 4th-instar Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) on wheat was estimated over a range of temperatures and host densities. A functional response equation was used in which a quadratic component that included temperature was substituted for handling time. The instantaneous search rate increased with increasing temperatures. The maximum...

Adult females of Nasonia vitripennis inject a venomous mixture into its host flies prior to oviposition. Recently, the entire genome of this ectoparasitoid wasp was sequenced, enabling the identification of 79 venom proteins. The next challenge will be to unravel their specific functions, but based on homolog studies, some predictions already can be made. Parasitization has an enormous impact o...

Parasitoid wasps are valuable biological control agents that suppress their host populations. Factors introduced by the female wasp at parasitization play significant roles in facilitating successful development of the parasitoid larva either inside (endoparasitoid) or outside (ectoparasitoid) the host. Wasp venoms consist of a complex cocktail of proteinacious and non-proteinacious components ...

Many bacterial pathogens are exquisitely adapted to host parasitization. Their niche is primarily determined by the biochemical milieu of the host. As such, pathogens are selected to exhibit environmentally responsive and adaptive molecular traits which allow adherence, entrance, and replication within the host (7, 26). One major set of selective forces which operates to shape the phenotype of ...

The parasite communities of two molly species, the sexual Poecilia latipinna and the clonalPoecilia formosa, were investigated in four populations using a novel method applicable under field conditions. In two native populations from south Texas and two introduced populations from central Texas, four species of microparasites and eight species of macroparasites were recorded. Virtually no diffe...

Emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), is an invasive wood-boring pest of trees (Fraxinus spp.) in the United States. It responsible for catastrophic decline urban and forested ecosystems, resulting millions dollars economic losses. Biological control one most promising management options available to reduce A. spread impact. From 2015 2017, two larval paras...

Aphid species feeding on lettuce occupy distinct feeding sites: the lettuce aphid Nasonovia ribisnigri prefers to feed on heart leaves, whereas the potato aphid Macrosiphum euphorbiae feeds only on outer leaves. The aphid parasitoid Aphelinus abdominalis, known to be able to regulate M. euphorbiae on many crops, has recently been indicated as a promising biocontrol candidate also for use agains...

Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) is the most commonly diagnosed infectious neuro-degenerative condition in horses and neuroinflammation is present in all definitively diagnosed cases. Historically EPM is difficult to treat. Polyneuritis equi (cauda equina neuritis) is a rarely recognized noninfectious, chronic relapsing, peripheral neurodegenerative disorder in horses. We propose that p...