| Publication Type: | Book Chapter |
| Year of Publication: | 1987 |
| Authors: | R. G. van Driesche |
| Editor: | T. M. Peters, van Driesche R. G. |
| Book Title: | Opportunities for increased use of biological control in Massachusetts |
| Series Title: | Research Bulletin Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station |
| Volume: | 718 |
| Pagination: | 75-86 |
| Keywords: | arthropod pests, beneficial arthropods, biological control agents, control, damage, entomopa, evaluation, hosts, insect pests, insecticides, lucerne, maize, microbial pesticides, natural enemies, parasitoids, pathogens, pest control, pesticides, predators |
| Abstract: | The current status of major insect pests of maize and lucerne in Massachusetts are listed with their characteristics, types of damage and current chemical control methods. On lucerne, populations of the curculionid Hypera postica are reduced by a number of parasitoids, the most important of these is the ichneumonid Bathyplectes anurus. Fourteen exotic parasitoid species have been released for the control of Agromyza frontella and 3 of these are established. Numbers of the aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum are reduced by the exotic braconids Aphidius ervi ervi and A. smithi. Natural enemies of Acrididae include the pathogen Nosema locustae, Diptera and Hymenoptera. N. locustae is an effective biocontrol agent. The importation of the pipunculid parasitoid Verrallia aucta is recommended for the control of the aphrophorid Philaenus spumarius. None of the maize pests has been reduced to non-pest levels by biological control. Many parasitoids of the noctuid Pseudaletia unipuncta [Mythimna unipuncta] have been recorded but little is known of the natural enemies of the chrysomelid Diabrotica longicornis. Tetranychus urticae has been controlled by the entomogenous fungus Neozygites floridana and the predatory phytoseiids Phytoseiulus persimilis and Amblyseius californicus [Neoseiulus californicus]. |