Egg parasitoid rearing on factitious hosts is an important step to reduce costs and increase availability of the biocontrol agent but it requires quality control to achieve success in field conditions. To this end, this study evaluated the quality of Telenomus remus (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) reared on Corcyra cephalonica (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) for until 45 generations. In the first bioassay, we evaluated the body size of the laboratory-produced parasitoids. In the second bioassay, flight activity was examined, measuring the percentage of 'flyers', 'walkers' and 'deformed' parasitoids. The third bioassay assessed parasitism on Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) eggs. Our data indicate that the laboratory-reared parasitoid neither lost its ability to fly nor to parasitize S. frugiperda eggs. In conclusion, quality did not decrease significantly during 45 generations, and therefore rearing of T. remus on C. cephalonica as factitious host promises to be successful.

Successful biological control requires detailed knowledge about host preferences of the released parasitoid, because the presence of alternative hosts may affect the control of the target pest. The objective of this work was therefore to evaluate host preferences of Telenomus podisi Ashmead among the eggs of three stink bug species: Dichelops melacanthus Dallas, Euschistus heros Fabricius, and Podisus nigrispinus Dallas (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae). Three independent experiments were carried out to study host preferences among the following: (1) E. heros, D. melacanthus dallas, and P. nigrispinus (bioassay 1); (2) E. heros and D. melacanthus (bioassay 2); and (3) D. melacanthus and P. nigrispinus (bioassay 3). A single bioassay (bioassay 4) was carried out to evaluate the egg size of E. heros, D. melacanthus, and P. nigrispinus. Two more bioassays were carried out: bioassay 5 to study the biological characteristics of T. podisi reared on E. heros, D. melacanthus, and P. nigrispinus eggs, and bioassay 6 to study the morphological characters of T. podisi reared on those different host eggs. Overall, T. podisi consistently preferred eggs of D. melacanthus to those of the other studied hosts, due to probably their better nutritional value; hypothesis that is supported by the fast T. podisi development and bigger parasitoids when reared on D. melacanthus and P. nigrispinus eggs. This allows suggesting that neither pre-imaginal conditioning nor associative learning nor α-conditioning are relevant to T. podisi parasitism. Thus, E. heros eggs could be successfully used for mass rearing of this parasitoid for successive generations since it would not affect its parasitism on other species of the Pentatomidae family in the field.

We conducted three bioassays to evaluate the effect of low-temperature storage of eggs (host) and pupae and adults (parasitoid) on the biology and parasitism capacity of the egg parasitoid Telenomus remus (Nixon) (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae). Viable stored Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) eggs were parasitized to the same degree or even higher than fresh eggs when stored until 14 days at 5°C or until 21 days at 10°C. In contrast, the percentage of parasitized sterilized eggs was equal to the control only when stored for 7 and 14 days. Survival of T. remus pupae declined with storage time at both studied temperatures (5 and 10°C). However, after 7 days of storage, survival of pupae was still 86.3 and 64.9% at 10 and 5°C, respectively. The number of adult male survivors remained similar until the fourth storage day at both 5 and 10°C. In contrast, female survival did not differ until day 8 at 10°C or day 6 at 5°C. Parasitism capacity of stored adults was not altered by storage compared with the control. Therefore, we conclude that the maximal storage time at 10°C is 21 days for viable C. cephalonica eggs and 7 days for T. remus pupae, while parasitoid adults should not be stored for more than 4 days at either 5 or 10°C.

The present study evaluated the effect of different rates of chlorantraniliprole, chlorantraniliprole + lambda-cyhalothrin, spinosad, and chlorfenapyr on their selectivity for the pupae and adults of Trichogramma pretiosum. The negative effect of majority of the insecticides tested on most of the parasitoids was directly proportional to the rate of the insecticide applied. Chlorantraniliprole at a rate of 10 g a.i. ha -1 was classified as harmless (class 1) to both pupae and adults of the parasitoid. The effect of chlorantraniliprole at a rate of 20 to 50 g a.i. ha -1 varied from harmless (class 1) to slightly harmful (class 2) to the adults of T. pretiosum. Chlorantraniliprole 10 + lambda-cyhalothrin at 5 g a.i. ha -1 was classified as harmless (class 1) to the pupae and moderately harmful (class 3) to the adults of T. pretiosum. On the contrary, the highest rate of chlorantraniliprole 50 + lambda-cyhalothrin tested (i.e., 25 g a.i. ha -1 ) was classified as slightly harmful (class 2) to the pupae and harmful (class 4) to the adults of the parasitoid. Similarly, increasing the application rate of spinosad and chlorfenapyr also exhibited an increase in toxicity. Spinosad at a rate of 24 g a.i. ha -1 was classified as slightly harmful (class 2) and harmless (class 1) to the pupae and adults of T. pretiosum, respectively. Spinosad at 96 g a.i. ha -1 was classified as both moderately harmful (class 3) and harmful (class 4) to the pupae of the parasitoid. Chlorfenapyr at a rate of 192 g a.i. ha -1 was classified as both slightly harmful (class 2) and moderately harmful (class 3) to the pupae of T. pretiosum, whereas chlorfenapyr at 336 g a.i. ha -1 was categorized as slightly harmful (class 3) and harmful (class 4) to the pupae. These results indicate that an increase in the rate of insecticide affected T. pretiosum negatively. Therefore, higher insecticide rates should only be adopted when strictly necessary to control the target pest, because they might compromise the biological pest control process in the field. ResumoO presente estudo avaliou o efeito de diferentes taxas de clorantraniliprole, clorantraniliprole + lambdacialotrina, espinosade, e clorfenapir na seletividade para as pupas e adultos de Trichogramma pretiosum. O efeito negativo da maioria dos inseticidas testados nos parasitoides foi diretamente proporcional à dose do inseticida aplicado. O clorantraniliprole na dose de 10 g a.i. ha -1 foi classificado como seletivo (classe 1) para pupas e adultos do parasitoide. O efeito do clorantraniliprole na dose de 20 a 50 g a.i. ha -1 variou de seletivo (classe 1) a levemente prejudicial (classe 2) aos adultos de T. pretiosum. Clorantraniliprole 10 + lambda-cialotrina a 5 g a.i. ha -1 foi classificado como seletivo (classe 1) para as pupas e moderadamente prejudicial (classe 3) aos adultos de T. pretiosum. Ao contrário, a dose mais alta de clorantraniliprole 50 + lambda-cialotrina testada (isto é, 25 g a.i. ha -1 ) foi classificada como moderadamente prejudicial (classe 3) para as pupas e nociva (cla...

This study investigates the influence of parasitoid age and egg age of the hosts Euschistus heros (Fabricius) and Dichelops melacanthus (Dallas) on parasitism of Telenomus podisi Ashmead. Six separate bioassays were conducted: parasitism on eggs of E. heros (bioassay 1) and D. melacanthus (bioassay 2) by T. podisi females of different age (1, 5, and 10 days old); parasitism by T. podisi on eggs of different age (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 days of embryonic development) of the hosts E. heros (bioassay 3) and D. melacanthus (bioassay 4); preference of T. podisi females for eggs at different embryonic developmental stages (eggs of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 days) of the hosts E. heros (bioassay 5) and D. melacanthus (bioassay 6). The age of T. podisi females and their hosts affected parasitism on both E. heros and D. melacanthus eggs. Overall, the parasitism rate was higher in older than younger parasitoids, independent of the tested host species, and host eggs between 1 and 3 days old were similarly parasitized. Thus, in T. podisi mass rearing facilities, it is recommended to use older adults (5 to 10 days old) as mother wasps to increase parasitism on the offered eggs. In addition, when hosts are completely absent in the field, or climatic conditions are unfavorable for release, mass-reared adults can be kept in the laboratory (25°C) for up to 10 days for later release in the field without any impairment of their subsequent parasitism performance.

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Species of the genus Trissolcus are effective as egg parasitoids of Euschistus heros and can potentially be used in a multispecies pest management approach. However, in order to successfully use those biocontrol agents in the field, previous detailed knowledge about their life history are necessary. therefore, we evaluate some biological characteristics of Trissolcus urichi on Euschistus heros and Dichelops melacanthus eggs. Three independent experiments were performed: (1) T. urichi host preference between E. heros and D. melacanthus eggs. (2) T. urichi eggs-adult period (days), number of parasitized eggs in 24 h, emergence rate (%) and sex ratio of the parasitoid in E. heros and D. melacanthus eggs. (3) Morphometric characteristics of T. urichi grown on E. heros and D. melacanthus eggs. Trissolcus urichi preferred to parasitize E. heros eggs, exhibiting a higher number of parasitized eggs, higher rate of emergence (%) and faster development, as well as producing progeny of larger size than the parasitoids emerged from eggs of D. melacanthus in relation to body length, wing length and width. thus, it can be concluded that T. urichi had better performance on E. heros eggs, although the parasitoid had also acceptable parasitism capacity and development in D. melacanthus eggs. Stink bugs are one of the most important groups of insects that cause yield losses in soybean (Glycine max) production in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay 1. Not only have they damage soybean in South America but also in Arkansas and other states in the Mid-South of the United States 2. Because these insects feed directly on the soybean pods they seriously affect both yield and bean quality 1,3. Among the recorded stink bugs from soybean fields, there have been at least 54 different species belonging to the family Pentatomidae 4. The relative economic importance of each species might vary according to each country or its region 5. However, of the many species of stink bug, the Neotropical Brown Stink Bug, Euschistus heros (Fabricius) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is the most frequent pest of field crops, mainly in the central region of Brazil at latitudes between 0° and 23°6. In addition, more recently, the Green-Belly Stink Bug, Dichelops melacanthus (Dallas) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), has become more abundant, increasing its significance to soybean and maize (Zea mays) production in the Neotropical region, especially in Brazil 7. This increase is mostly a consequence of the adopted production system in which soybean is cropped during summer immediately followed by maize in autumn. The resulting continuous food supply to the insects throughout the year, known as green bridge, has favored D. melacanthus outbreaks 8 .

The metropolitan area of Londrina has the presence of strong agribusiness and agroservices and it is an important center for agricultural production, especially soybean and corn. We evaluated the technical aspects and characteristics of farming and crop handling by the producers of soybean and corn, through a semi-structured questionnaire. Two hundred and forty responses were recorded: 120 from soybean farmers and 120 from corn farmers, which represented 10% of the farmers in the city of Londrina. Farmers reported that bedbugs and caterpillars are the main pests. Farmers use organo-synthetic insecticides as the primary means to control pests, but also employ crop-growing measures such as tillage, crop rotation, and the use of transgenic seeds in the management of insect pests affecting soybean and corn.