Incidence of honeydew in southern pine-hardwood forests: implications for adult parasitoids of the Southern Pine Beetle,Dendroctonus frontalis (Coleoptera: Scolytidae)

The incidence of homopteran honeydew was measured under pines and hardwoods located within 10 Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann infestations on the Talladega National Forest (Alabama) during summer, 2000. There were more honeydew droplets beneath hardwood trees compared to pines, but no difference beween D. frontalis infested and uninfested pines. The number of honeydew droplets per tree differed between sampling dates, likely due to the effect of mean weekly temperature and rainfall on homopteran populations. The presence of honeydew on hardwoods may explain why D. frontalis parasitoids forage in areas that lack hosts and suggests that the fecundity of D. frontalis parasitoids may not be limited by adult nutrition.