Natural enemies associated with the cabbage whitefly Aleyrodes proletella in Germany

Conservation of Non-Pest Whiteflies and Natural Enemies of the Cabbage Whitefly Aleyrodes proletella on Perennial Plants for Use in Non-Crop Habitats

“…The parasitoid E. tricolor but also spiders are next to hoverfly larvae among the most important natural enemies of A. proletella [ 15 ]. An improvement of resilience of E. tricolor by annual banker plants has already been shown to increase parasitism rates and decrease A. proletella populations on cabbage [ 20 ].…”

“…Aleyrodes proletella Linnaeus (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) has become a major pest on Brassica crops in different parts of the world during the past decades [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Its parasitoid Encarsia tricolor Förster (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) is distributed over large parts of Europe up to Russia and Northern Africa and is regarded as the most important natural enemy of A. proletella in Central Europe next to hoverfly larvae, coccinellids, and spiders among others [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”

Banker plants promote functional biodiversity and decrease populations of the cabbage whitefly Aleyrodes proletella

“…Furthermore, the whitefly parasitoid E. inaron may be a potentially better alternative to E. tricolor . Encarsia inaron used to be highly abundant in at least certain parts of Europe up to the 1950s (Butler, 1938; Stein, 1958), but has almost disappeared as parasitoid of A. proletella since that time (Gumovsky, 2005; Laurenz et al., 2019; Springate, 2017). The displacement of E. inaron may have facilitated the outbreakes of this whitefly pest in recent decades (Williams, 1996), because E. inaron may perform better on primary hosts (159 eggs per female on Siphoninus phillyreae ) than E. tricolor (85 eggs per female on A. proletella ; Gould et al., 1995; Williams, 1995).…”

“…The only specialists on whiteflies are the parasitoid species and the coccinelid Clitostethus arcuatus Rossi (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). While the majority of these whitefly specialists is only found in low numbers, Encarsia tricolor Förster (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) is often the dominating parasitoid and supposed to be the most important natural enemy of A. proletella (Laurenz et al., 2019; Stein, 1958). However, E. tricolor may appear too late in the season or in insufficient numbers to suppress A. proletella populations significantly (Laurenz et al., 2017; Springate, 2016).…”

“…However, this effect often disappears later in the growing season; crop cover nets are labour intensive, may facilitate aphid pests and hinder colonization by natural enemies (Ludwig & Meyhöfer, 2016). Arthropodan natural enemies of A. proletella comprise hymenopteran parasitoids, syrphid larvae, spiders, coccinelids, predatory bugs, lacewing larvae, predatory flies and predatory gall midges (Butler, 1936;Evans, 2007b;Gumovsky, 2005;Laurenz et al, 2019;Mound & Halsey, 1978;Noyes, 2020;Pütz et al, 2000;Springate, 2017;Springate & Arnold, 2011;Stein, 1958;van Rijn et al, 2008). The only specialists on whiteflies are the parasitoid species and the coccinelid Clitostethus arcuatus Rossi (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae).…”