BIOLOGY OF TRIARTHRIA SETIPENNIS (FALLÉN) (DIPTERA: TACHINIDAE), A NATIVE PARASITOID OF THE EUROPEAN EARWIG, FORFICULA AURICULARIA L. (DERMAPTERA: FORFICULIDAE), IN EUROPE

Triarthria setipennis is a tachinid parasitoid of the European earwig (Forficula auricularia) and following introduction from Europe has become established in British Columbia and Newfoundland, where it provides low levels of control. Populations of T. setipennis were surveyed in central Europe during 1989-1991 and individual insects reared to identify available biotypes that may be more effective than biotypes already established in Canada. Additional information is provided on parasitoid biology; this could facilitate new introduction of T. setipennis which could be used to augment existing or introduced populations in Canada for the control of F. auricularia. Microclimatic conditions and sufficient territory space for pairs are important to elicit mating activity. Older males mated readily with newly emerged females. The gestation period of mated females is on average 19 days. Triarthria setipennis is ovolarviparous and lays its eggs close to potential hosts. Chemicals are involved in the host-finding and host-acceptance response of the females. Females lay on average 235 eggs. The oviposition period lasts 4-5 days. Once a first-instar larva contacted a host, it mounted it and tried to penetrate through the intersegmental skin between the head and thorax, or on the thorax or abdomen; this process takes less than 3 min. Only 16.7% of the parasitoids manage to penetrate the host successfully. The duration of larval development is variable, taking from 2 weeks to 2 months during June and July. Most pupae were obtained during August. Overwintering occurs in the pupal stage. In Germany and in the northwestern part of Switzerland there is one full and a partial second generation per year. The first generation of T. setipennis in southern Austria shows a long emergence period and the individuals differ markedly in colour. The highest rate of parasitism in the field was 46.9

Refining the implementation of arthropod classical biological control

In den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten ist die Anwendung von klassischer biologischer Schädlingsbekämpfung in Verruf geraten. Zurzeit erfährt dieser Ansatz allerdings wieder wachsenden Zuspruch. Durch Berichte über negative Auswirkungen von Nützlingen, eingesetzt in der klassischen biologischen Schädlingsbekämpfung, auf ihre Umwelt, waren Wissenschaftler gezwungen, neue Verfahren zu entwickeln, um eventuelle Risiken besser abschätzen zu können. Seit Mitte der neunziger Jahre wurden daher zahlreiche nationale und internationale Richtlinien entwickelt, um den an der Auswahl und Freilassung von exotischen Nützlingen beteiligten Personen die jeweiligen Pflichten aufzuzeigen. Zur gleichen Zeit begannen Wissenschaftler praxisnahe, standardisierte Verfahren zur Risikoabschätzung von Nützlingen zu entwickeln. Der Mangel an im praktischen Einsatz erprobten Verfahren, wie sie zum Beispiel für die klassische biologische Bekämpfung von Unkräutern bereits existieren, stellt nach wie vor ein großes Hindernis für eine sinnvolle Risikoabschätzung von Nutzarthropoden dar. In Zusammenarbeit mit anderen Forschungsgruppen nutzen die Mitarbeiter von CABI Europe-Switzerland laufende Forschungsprojekte, um Probleme bei der Abschätzung der Wirtsspezifität von Nützlingen und den damit verbundenen Risiken zu lösen. Besonders die Arbeitsgruppe zur klassischen biologischen Bekämpfung von Arthropoden richtet ihr Hauptaugenmerk auf die Entwicklung von Laborverfahren zur Abschätzung der Wirtsspezifität von Nützlingen und deren Aussagekraft im Vergleich mit Freilanduntersuchungen.The last few decades have been turbulent for the reputation and practice of arthropod classical biological control. Public and scientific support for this pest management approach has risen, fallen and appears to be rising again. Due to reports in the 1980s and 1990s of negative environmental effects caused by classical biological control agents, practitioners have scrambled to develop better risk assessment measures. Since the mid-1990s, several national and international guidelines have been created that assign responsibilities to the players involved in selection and release of exotic beneficial insects. At the same time and on a more technical level, researchers have been working to develop standardised procedures for the risk assessment of proposed classical biological control agents. The lack of well-established protocols (like those that exist for weed biological control) has been a great impediment to the implementation of meaningful risk assessments. Along with other research groups, the biological control scientists at CABI Europe-Switzerland are using current projects to tackle problems associated with estimating agent host speci­ficity and risk assessment. In particular, the arthropod classical biological control team is working on key host range testing issues including methods for selection of non-target species, design and implementation of host specificity experiments, and extrapolation of laboratory results to a field context

Governance der Kooperation heterogener Partner im deutschen Forschungs- und Innovationssystem

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Special issue highlighting research presented at the 25th IWGO Conference, Chicago 2014

The two most destructive insect pests of maize in Europe and the USA are the western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, and the European corn borer Ostrinia nubilalis. In Asia, these are represented by similar species, the two-spotted leaf beetle, Monolepta hieroglyphica, and the Asian corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis, and there is great concern that D. v. virgifera could be introduced there as well. South America has recently undergone an invasion by the Old World corn earworm, Helicoverpa armigera, adding to a devastating complex of lepidopteran pests of maize such as fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, that are increasingly difficult for farmers to manage

How maize root volatiles affect the efficacy of entomopathogenic nematodes in controlling the western corn rootworm?

Because the ferocious maize pest Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte can adapt to all currently used control strategies, focus has turned to the development of novel, more sustainable control methods, such as biological control using entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN). A good understanding of the biology and behaviour of these potential control agents is essential for their successful deployment. Root systems of many maize varieties emit (E)-β-caryophyllene (EβC) in response to feeding by larvae of the beetle D. v. virgifera. This sesquiterpene has been shown to attract certain species of EPN, thereby enhancing their control potential. In this study, we tested the effect of this root-produced volatile on the field efficacy of the three EPN Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, Heterorhabditis megidis and Steinernema feltiae against D. v. virgifera larvae in southern Hungary. By comparing beetle emergence and root damage for two maize varieties, one that emits EβC and one that does not, it was found that root protection by H. megidis and S. feltiae was higher on the emitting variety, but this was not the case for H. bacteriophora. Overall, all three nematode species showed good control potential. We conclude that, if properly applied and in combination with the right maize variety, the release of these nematodes can be as effective as other control method

Oviposition preferences of Diabrotica virgifera virgifera: Multiple-choice field cage trials

Eiablagepräferenzen von Diabrotica virgifera virgifera: Multiple-choice-Käfigversuche im Fel

Dispersal and oviposition behaviour of Diabrotica virgifera virgifera in non-maize crops to improve advice and guidelines for crop rotation

Verbreitungs- und Eiablageverhalten von Diabrotica virgifera virgifera in Nicht-Mais-Kulturen zur Verbesserung von Beratung und Richtlinien für den Fruchtwechse

Differences between independently invading and crossed populations of the alien maize pest Diabrotica virgifera virgifera

Unterschiede zwischen unabhängig einwandernden und gekreuzten Populationen des neuen Maisschädlings Diabrotica virgifera virgifer

Züchterische Bearbeitung von Süßlupinen für den ökologischen Landbau – Erste Ergebnisse zu Ertrags- und Qualitätsuntersuchungen

Lupines will be provided as feeding stuff with high quality for the organic farming. Therefore breeding selection of lupines and a complex quality analysis are necessary. In addition to agronomical characteristics quality parameters are estimated, such as protein content, amino acid composition, fat, fatty acid composition, starch and sugar as well as antinutritive substances (non-starch polysaccharides and alkaloides). On the basis of determined data, NIR/NIT-calibrations are developed as breeding relevant methods. The project serves to both opening up and use of genetic resources and breeding of lupines suitable for ecological cultivation