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2 The potential of Dicyphus bolivari and Dicyphus errans as biological control agents of Tuta absoluta was evaluated  In laboratory, females and 5 th -instar nymphs of both mirids showed a type II functional response to eggs of T. absoluta  In greenhouse, both predators were able to reduce the population of T. absoluta, but less effectively than Macrolophus pygmaeus, which showed the strongest numerical response  Functional response studies should be combined with population dynamics and multipleprey studies to evaluate omnivorous predator efficacy Author Contribution StatementBLI and GM conceived, designed the trials and wrote the manuscript. NB analysed the functional response data. BLI, AI, LD, JBW and AL conducted the experiments. LT supervised the trials and contributed to manuscript writing. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

A new parasitoid wasp species belonging to the genus Megastylus (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Orthocentrinae) found in an orchid nursery in The Netherlands is described and illustrated: Megastylus woelkei sp. nov. It was reared from parasitized larvae of fungus gnats (Diptera: Keroplatidae). The biology of this new species and the possibility to use it in biological pest control are briefly discussed.

Parasitoid wasps of the genus Trichogramma are used worldwide as biological control agents against lepidopteran pests. Trichogramma wasps develop inside eggs of a wide range of host species, most of them moths. They are generally considered as diurnal insects. Here, we investigated whether Trichogramma wasps can also successfully parasitise host eggs at night under controlled laboratory conditions. Eggs of the moth Ephestia kuehniella were offered under dark conditions (scotophase) to females of Trichogramma brassicae and

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Two new minute egg parasitoid wasp species belonging to the genus Trichogramma (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae), T. chagres sp. nov. and T. soberania sp. nov., were found in a tropical lowland rainforest in Panama, Central America. In this paper, we describe, illustrate and discuss the biology and morphological and molecular characterization of the two new Trichogramma wasp species. Both species were collected from eggs of passion vine butterflies, Agraulis vanillae vanillae (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Heliconiinae) and unidentified Heliconiini species, laid on different Passiflora species (Malpighiales: Passifloraceae). A female T. soberania sp. nov. wasp was observed on the wings of a female Heliconius hecale melicerta butterfly caught in the wild. This suggests that this species may occasionally be phoretic on adult female butterflies to find suitable host eggs. Our study adds two more species identifications to the scarce record of Trichogramma wasps from the widespread Heliconiini butterflies in Central America. urn:lsid:zoobank.

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