Fenoxycarb, a fairly new Insect Growth Regulato: review of its effects on insects

To reduce the impact of pesticides, new more selective chemicals need to be developed. Insect Growth Regulators such as Juvenile Hormone Analogues seem promising because of their specific mode of action on insects and their lower toxicity against Vertebrates than conventional insecticides. Nevertheless they remain toxic compounds. Fenoxycarb, a non neurotoxic carbamate shows a high JH activity, but also has other non JH specific effects. Effects of fenoxycarb on different pest and non-target insects were reviewed from nearly 200 scientific papers dealing with this chemical used as insecticide.     

Comparative aspects of the biology of five Auplopus species (Hymenoptera; Pompilidae; Pepsinae) from Brazil

This study was carried out at the Parque Municipal das Araucárias, in the municipality of Guarapuava, state of Paraná, southern Brazil, from December 2001 to December 2004. Sixty nests belonging to five Auplopus species were collected using trap-nests. The nest cells of all species were built with mud and shaped like a barrel or cylinder, mostly in linear arrangement. Differences between species lie in the colour of the mud and the way in which they organize the mud pellets during the construction of the cells. Few vestibular and intercalary cells were built. The number of cells varied according to the species, never surpassing six cells per nest. We observed a great variation between the five species related to sex ratio and the number of generations per year. Some species presented a delayed life cycle with juveniles entering diapause, others presented an additional short life cycle with no diapause.     

Importance of host oviposition pattern and plant size for the selection of Trichogramma strains to control the diamondback moth

The aim of this work was to select a candidate strain of Trichogrammatidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) to control the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), an important pest of cabbage in Europe. The parasitic efficiency of Trichogramma chilonis Ishii from Japan and Réunion Island, Trichogramma evanescens Westwood from Egypt, Trichogramma ostriniae Pang & Chen from Japan, and Trichogramma semblidis (Aurivillius) from France was studied with sentinel eggs in greenhouse‐grown cauliflower. The percentage of parasitized eggs was measured 1 m from the release point and 3 days after release. Two factors were studied: host‐egg density (three eggs per stem vs. 50 eggs per stem) and plant size (50–100 cm high plants vs. 100–150 cm high plants). Trichogramma evanescens from Egypt achieved the best parasitism. Parasitism efficiency of T. ostriniae from Japan and T. chilonis from Réunion Island was not influenced by egg density. In contrast, parasitism efficiencies of the three other strains were higher at the lower egg density than at the higher egg density. Parasitism efficiency was lower when the plants were bigger, with the exception of T. chilonis from Réunion Island, for which the level of parasitism was not affected by plant size. Thus, T. chilonis from Réunion Island appeared to be the most suitable Trichogramma strain for use in controlling P. xylostella, regardless of the growth stage of the crop. However, T. ostriniae from Japan may also be more suitable for use on cauliflower crops at the early stage of crop development. If potential problems related to the introduction of exotic species are taken into consideration, it is possible to consider the native T. evanescens.     

SEX RATIO VARIATION IN A PARASITIC WASP I. REACTION NORMS

To understand genetic and phenotypic constraints on the sex ratio in a parasitic wasp that attacks fly pupae, I carried out a laboratory study of sex ratio variability in five strains of Muscidifurax raptor (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). I manipulated the environment through combinations of temperature and day length, and the numbers of females that attack a group of hosts. The change of phenotype in each strain over the range of environmental conditions describes the norm of each reaction for that strain, and measures how a strain responds to environmental variation to create phenotypic variability. Sex ratio in parasitic wasps is a complex trait that has several components—the numbers of eggs laid by an ovipositing wasp and the fraction of eggs that are fertilized (female). Further, sex ratio may be influenced by a female's reaction to other females exploiting the same hosts (superparasitism). I found no strain-environment interactions in either sex ratio or fecundity when I varied environmental conditions. Although strains differed in sex ratio and fecundity, all strains produced a more female-biased sex ratio and had higher fecundity when temperature and day length increased. Sex ratio and fecundity were phenotypically correlated, and strains with greater fecundity also produced a more female-biased sex ratio. All strains facultatively shifted sex ratio toward a higher fraction of males with increasing female density, despite apparent differences in superparasitism among strains. Males and females survived equally during development, so that mortality differences among strains and across environments could not account for sex ratio variability. This study indicates that sex ratio variability among strains is constrained by the correlation between sex ratio and fecundity, and that strains display similar facultative shifts in sex ratio as female density increases because sex ratio shifts are insensitive to differing levels of superparasitism.     

Application of microsatellite primers for the social wasp Polistes to another social wasp genus, Parapolybia, to estimate genetic relationships among nestmates

We tested 14 pairs of microsatellite primers that had been developed for the genus Polistes to assess their applicability for determining genetic structure in a colony of the genus Parapolybia. At least one of the 14 Polistes primer sets was useful for Parapolybia indica, and the locus identified by this primer set was highly polymorphic. Using this primer set, we estimated the average relatedness among female nestmates of Parapolybia indica to be 0.82 ± 0.05 (mean ± SE), indicating that in this species single mating is normal, although some cases of multiple mating was found.     

浙江蚜小蜂属一新种：膜翅目：蚜小蜂科

本文报导分布于浙江的蚜小蜂属一新种:桃粉蚜蚜小蜂Aphelinus hyalopteraphidis sp.nov.并详细描述了其分类特征及与近似种的区别。     

中国巨首蚁属昆虫分类研究(膜翅目,蚁科)

记述中国巨首蚁属Pheidologeton 10种和3亚种,其中1新种即增城巨首蚁P.zengchengensis sp.nov.新种与粗纹巨首蚁P.tvechideros Zhou et Zheng相似,但大型工蚁与后者的区别是上颚光亮无刻纹,体刻纹间面光亮无刻点,并胸腹节刺圆而直,不向前弯曲.新种的小型工蚁与粗纹巨首蚁的区别是前-中胸背板凸远高于后者,并胸腹节刺直,不向上弯.文中提供了中国已知9种3亚种的分种检索表,另一种齿突巨首蚁P.dentiviris Forel因仅依据雄蚁描述而且分类地位不定,未包括在检索表中.     

中国钩瓣叶蜂属一新种(膜翅目,叶蜂科)

钩瓣叶蜂属隶属于叶蜂科,已知230余种,中国已经报道77种.记述中国钩瓣叶蜂属1新种:尖唇钩瓣叶蜂Macrophya acuminiclypeus sp.nov.,该种与女贞钩瓣叶蜂 M.ligustri Wei et Huang,1997近似,但唇基缺口深,侧角狭长,端部尖,头部额区和中胸侧板刻点粗密,中胸背板前叶中沟模糊,几乎消失,后足股节基部1/4黄白色,锯腹片22刃,中部锯刃具10～11个后位亚基齿等,差别明显,易于鉴别.正模♀,江西萍乡芦溪,2004-04-03,魏美才采;副模:1♀,湖南浏阳,1985-05-08,童新旺,1♀,福建武夷山,1 100 m,2004-05-20,周虎.新种模式标本保存于中南林业科技大学昆虫模式标本室.