Prospects for Biological Control of Macadamia Felted Coccid in Hawaii with Metaphycus macadamiae Polaszek & Noyes, a New Encyrtid Wasp Native to NSW Australia (original) (raw)

Macadamia Felted Coccid, Eriococcus ironsidei: Biology and Life Cycle in Hawaii

2016

The life cycle and general biology of Eriococcus ironsidei were observed in the field and under laboratory conditions. We provide data on duration of developmental stages, fecundity, and longevity of the insects. The female can be found in high numbers on branches of macadamia nut tress while the males mostly colonize the leaves. The average duration of time to complete metamorphosis varied between the sexes. Females took 32 days and males 16 days after hatching from eggs to reach the adult stage. Females produced up to 97 eggs (mean of 36.7) and were capable of producing eggs for over 50 days under laboratory conditions. Introduction Macadamia felted coccid, Eriococcus ironsidei (Williams) (Hemiptera: Eriococcidae), was originally reported from macadamia nut trees (Macadamia integrifolia, Proteaceae), in Australia, by Ironside (1970). E. ironsidei infest Macadamia species and feed by inserting their threadlike stylet into the plant tissues (Figure 1). Damage caused by the scale inc...

Contribution of Insect Pollination to Macadamia integrifolia Production in Hawaii

2015

The honeybee, Apis mellifera, is commonly accepted to be an important pollinator in many agricultural crop systems in Hawaii. However, specific details on the importance of A. mellifera, along with other insect visitors have not been determined for macadamia nut orchards in Hawaii. Reductions in feral honeybee populations in Hawaii attributable to invasions by varroa mites (Varroa destruc- tor) and small hive beetle (Aethina tumida) have resulted in growers becoming dependent on managed bees, requiring increased understanding of the role they play as pollinators. Several parameters determining the contributions of insect pollinators in macadamia nuts were measured: (1) species richness and abun- dance of insects visiting macadamia flowers, (2) the effects of insect pollination in regards to fruit set, fruit retention, fruit size, and weight, and (3) insect pollen removal efficacy based on the mean number of pollen grains an individual insect removed from the stigma while foraging on...

Biology and behavior of Metaphycus angustifrons Compere (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), a newly discovered parasitoid of soft scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccidae) in California

Biological Control, 2011

Metaphycus angustifrons Compere has recently been found to be the most abundant parasitoid of brown soft scale, Coccus hesperidum L., in southern California. In laboratory experiments we examined several biological parameters of this species. M. angustifrons both oviposits and host feeds in brown soft scale and is a facultatively gregarious endoparasitoid of this soft scale insect. In contrast with other Metaphycus spp., M. angustifrons is a koinobiont parasitoid, allowing its host to grow up to 40% beyond its size at parasitism. Despite its high abundance on brown soft scale in the field, in the laboratory, high rates of parasitoid egg encapsulation are observed; about half of parasitized hosts failed to issue parasitoids. Furthermore, host scales that encapsulated parasitoids eggs showed significant reduction in development. Increased scale size at oviposition influences the size of emerging females but not the size of males. Female M. angustifrons are synovigenic. They emerge from their hosts without mature eggs and begin maturing eggs after they are provided a carbohydrate source. Carbohydrates prolong the life span of both female and male M. angustifrons. The size of female wasps influences egg load but not longevity. Finally, based on laboratory observations, M. angustifrons uses citricola scale almost exclusively for host feeding and not for oviposition. These results suggest that the role of this species in citricola scale's decline in southern California in the 1950s-1960s was negligible.

Parasitoid wasp diversity in apple orchards along a pest-management gradient

Various studies have found higher biodiversity, particularly of arthropod natural enemies, on organic than on conventional farms. However, using broad management categories to compare farm diversity is complicated by farms using intermediate practices such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM). We used a pest-management toxicity index to compare Hymenopteran parasitoid species richness, abundance, and community composition in six apple orchards in southeastern Michigan, USA, along a gradient of management practices: organic, varying levels of IPM, and conventional.

Limited host range in the idiobiont parasitoid Phymastichus coffea, a prospective biological control agent of the coffee pest Hypothenemus hampei in Hawaii

Journal of Pest Science, 2021

Phymastichus coffea LaSalle (Hymenoptera:Eulophidae) is an adult endoparasitoid of the coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari) (Coleoptera:Curculionidae:Scolytinae), which has been introduced in many coffee producing countries as a biological control agent. To determine the effectiveness of P. coffea against H. hampei and environmental safety for release in Hawaii, we investigated the host selection and parasitism response of adult females to 43 different species of Coleoptera, including 23 Scolytinae (six Hypothenemus species and 17 others), and four additional Curculionidae. Non-target testing included Hawaiian endemic, exotic and beneficial coleopteran species. Using a no-choice laboratory bioassay, we demonstrated that P. coffea was only able to parasitize the target host H. hampei and four other adventive species of Hypothenemus: H. obscurus, H. seriatus, H. birmanus and H. crudiae. Hypothenemus hampei had the highest parasitism rate and shortest parasitoid developmen...

Colonization of apple orchards by predators of Dysaphis plantaginea: sequential arrival, response to prey abundance and consequences for biological control

BioControl, 2005

Episyrphus balteatus (DeGeer) (Diptera: Syrphidae), Adalia bipunctata (L.) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and Aphidoletes aphidimyza (Rondani) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) are the three most abundant natural enemies of Dysaphis plantaginea Passerini (Homoptera: Aphididae) in Asturian (NW Spain) apple orchards. They attack this aphid in sequence: E. balteatus arrived first, followed by A. bipunctata and then by A. aphidimyza. The cecidomyiids arrived too late to have a regulating effect. The syrphids laid an average of 2.3 ± 1.7 eggs per aphid colony and the coccinellids 18.4 ± 9.9 regardless of the degree of the infestation rates of the apple shoots. This value corresponds to the size of an egg batch laid by one female. Therefore, these aphid predators did not respond numerically to the abundance of the pest. The results of this study indicate that natural populations of syrphids and ladybird beetles are unable to control D. plantaginea, and therefore a more complex strategy than waiting for natural enemies is required.

Light Brown Apple Moth in California: A Diversity of Host Plants and Indigenous Parasitoids

Environmental Entomology, 2012

The light brown apple moth, Epiphyas postvittana (Walker), an Australia native tortricid, was found in California in 2006. A Þeld survey of host plants used by E. postvittana was conducted in an urban region of the San Francisco Bay Area. An inspection of 152 plant species (66 families), within a 23-ha residential community, found E. postvittana on 75 species (36 families). Most (69 species) host plants were not Australian natives, but had a wide geographic origin; 34 species were new host records for E. postvittana. Heavily infested species were the ornamental shrubs Myrtus communis L., Pittosporum tobira (Thunb.) W.T. Aiton, Euonymus japonicus Thunb., and Sollya heterophylla Lindl. To survey for parasitoids, four urban locations were sampled, with E. postvittana collected from Þve commonly infested plants [M. communis, P. tobira, E. japonicus, Rosmarinus officinalis L., and Genista monspessulana (L.) L.A.S. Johnson].

Field study demonstrates that exotic parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) of mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) are absent from a native forest habitat in New Zealand

BioControl, 2014

Laboratory-based, physiological host-range tests of classical biocontrol agents may be complemented by examining the ecological (realised) host-range of similar, previously established species. Sentinel longtailed mealybugs (Pseudococcus longispinus (Targioni-Tozzetti)) on potted citrus plants, and two species of native mealybugs on potted native trees, were placed in pairs in an orchard and a native forest block 500 m away. Sentinel P. longispinus on citrus plants were also placed along transects anchored in each habitat and extending towards the other by 100-150 m. Parasitoids were reared from the retrieved mealybugs. P. longispinus in the orchard was regularly parasitized by four species of exotic Encyrtidae, but was never parasitized by them in the native forest even though the parasitoids were present in the surrounding environment. Sentinel native mealybugs were not parasitized by any species in either habitat, although native parasitoids (especially Errolium sp. (Hym: Platygastridae) and unidentified Hym: Aphelinidae) were collected from native mealybugs within the native forest.