A host plant survey for rice stinkbugs was conducted on commercial rice fields in Puerto Rico. Alternate host plants for the five stinkbug species consistently collected from rice fields were identified. Ten plant species were identified as alternate host plants. Oebalus pugnax (F.) displayed the narrowest host range and was collected only from Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench and Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers. The two most abundant stinkbug species, Mormidea angustata Stal and Oebalus ypsilon-griseus (De Geer), exhibited a similar preference or host plant range. Nearly twice as many stinkbugs were collected from weedy fields (560 insects) than from weedfree fields (362 insects).
The melonworm Diaphania hyalinata L. is the main pest of pumpkins in Puerto Rico. If also attacks other cucurbitaceous crops. Important natural enemies of this insect were recorded and identified from Puerto Rico, two of them for the first time: Agrypon sp. and Eiphosoma sp. (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae); Apanteles impiger Muesebeck and Apanteles sp. (Hymenoptera:Braconidae); Spilochalcis sp. (Hymenoptera:Chalcididae); Catolaccus sp. (Hymenoptera:Pteromalidae); Nemorilla maculosa Macquart and Nemorilla sp. poss. pyste (Walker) and Stomatodexia cothurnatha (Wiedemann) (Diptera:Tachinidae); and the following predators: Podissus sagitta (Fabricius) (Hemiptera:Pentatomidae); Monomorium destructor (Jerdon) (Hymenoptera:Formicidae) and Polistes crinitus (Felton) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae).
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