Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals or plants by using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also involves an active human management role. It can be an important component of integrated pest management (IPM) programs.
The Japanese beetle is a species of scarab beetle. Due to the presence of natural predators, the Japanese beetle is not considered a pest in its native Japan, but in North America and some regions of Europe, it is a noted pest to roughly 300 species of plants. Some of these plants include rose bushes, grapes, hops, canna, crape myrtles, birch trees, linden trees, and others.
In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasitism, distinguished by the fatal prognosis for the host, which makes the strategy close to predation.
The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. Over 1,300 species have been described in North America alone. Insects in this family commonly are called tachinid flies or simply tachinids. As far as is known, they all are protelean parasitoids, or occasionally parasites, of arthropods, usually other insects. The family is known from many habitats in all zoogeographical regions and is especially diverse in South America.
The common asparagus beetle is an important pest of asparagus crops both in Europe and in North America. Asparagus is its only food plant. The beetle is 6.0 mm to 9.5 mm long and slightly elongated. It is metallic blue-black in color with cream or yellow spots on its red-bordered elytra. The larvae are fat gray grubs with dark heads.
Crioceris, or asparagus beetle, is a genus of the family Chrysomelidae of beetles. The name is Neo-Latin from Greek κριός, ram and κέρας, horn. Not all species in the genus Crioceris feed on asparagus. Some studies have found low genetic diversity among groups of isolated Chrysomelidae, and use Wolbachia species as a genetic marker.
Wolbachia is a genus of gram-negative bacteria that can either infect many species of arthropod as an intracellular parasite, or act as a mutualistic microbe in filarial nematodes. It is one of the most common parasitic microbes of arthropods, and is possibly the most common reproductive parasite in the biosphere. Its interactions with its hosts are often complex. Some host species cannot reproduce, or even survive, without Wolbachia colonisation. One study concluded that more than 16% of neotropical insect species carry bacteria of this genus, and as many as 25 to 70% of all insect species are estimated to be potential hosts.
The horse-chestnut leaf miner is a leaf-mining moth of the family Gracillariidae. The horse-chestnut leaf miner was first observed in North Macedonia in 1984, and was described as a new species in 1986. Its larvae are leaf miners on the common horse-chestnut. The horse-chestnut leafminer was first collected and inadvertently pressed in herbarium sheets by the botanist Theodor von Heldreich in central Greece in 1879.
Adalia bipunctata, the two-spot ladybird, two-spotted ladybug or two-spotted lady beetle, is a carnivorous beetle of the family Coccinellidae that is found throughout the holarctic region. It is very common in western and central Europe. It is also native to North America but it has heavily declined in many states and provinces. It is commonly introduced and imported as a biological control agent.
Trichogramma is a genus of minute polyphagous wasps that are endoparasitoids of insect eggs. Trichogramma is one of around 80 genera from the family Trichogrammatidae, with over 200 species worldwide.
The cereal leaf beetle is a significant crop pest, described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
The almond moth or tropical warehouse moth is a small, stored-product pest. Almond moths infest flour, bran, oats, and other grains, as well as dried fruits. It belongs to the family of snout moths (Pyralidae), and more specifically to the tribe Phycitini of the huge snout moth subfamily Phycitinae. This species may be confused with the related Indian mealmoth or the Mediterranean flour moth, which are also common pantry pests in the same subfamily.
Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causing the death of these hosts. Different species specialise in hosts from different insect orders, most often Lepidoptera, though some select beetles, flies, or bugs; the spider wasps (Pompilidae) exclusively attack spiders.
Puccinia asparagi is the causative agent of asparagus rust. It is an autoecious fungus, meaning that all stages of its life cycle – pycniospores, aeciospores, and teliospores – all develop upon the same host plant . Rust diseases are among the most destructive plant diseases, known to cause famine following destruction of grains, vegetables, and legumes. Asparagus rust occurs wherever the plant is grown and attacks asparagus plants during and after the cutting season. Asparagus spears are usually harvested before extensive rust symptoms appear. Symptoms are first noticeable on the growing shoots in early summer as light green, oval lesions, followed by tan blister spots and black, protruding blisters later in the season. The lesions are symptoms of Puccinia asparagi during early spring, mid-summer and later summer to fall, respectively. Severe rust infections stunt or kill young asparagus shoots, causing foliage to fall prematurely, and reduce the ability of the plant to store food reserves. The Puccinia asparagi fungus accomplishes this by rust lowering the amounts of root storage metabolites. The infected plant has reduced plant vigor and yield, often leading to death in severe cases. Most rust diseases have several stages, some of which may occur on different hosts; however, in asparagus rust all the life stages occur on asparagus. Because of this, many observers mistake the different stages of the Puccinia asparagi life cycle as the presence of different diseases. The effects of Puccinia asparagi are present worldwide wherever asparagus is being grown. Asparagus rust is a serious threat to the asparagus industry.
The confused flour beetle, a type of darkling beetle known as a flour beetle, is a common pest insect known for attacking and infesting stored flour and grain. They are one of the most common and most destructive insect pests for grain and other food products stored in silos, warehouses, grocery stores, and homes.
The thistle tortoise beetle is a species of beetle in the subfamily Cassidinae and the genus Cassida. This leaf beetle can be recognized by its green, rounded back and it can be found on thistle plants in many regions of North America and Europe. The thistle beetle was first discovered in 1902 in Lévis, Quebec. In 1931, Nellie F. Paterson was the first to document the mature larva. Later, the instar larva of this species was first recorded in 2004 by Jolanta Świętojańska. This beetle exhibits multiple defense behaviors, such as a flexible shield and an excretion that protects the eggs against predators. The shield and excretion provide a barrier against predator's mandibles, although only to a certain extent due to longer mandibles being able to penetrate the defense mechanism.
Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is a mating incompatibility reported in many arthropod species that is caused by intracellular parasites such as Wolbachia. These bacteria reside in the cytoplasm of the host cells and modify their hosts' sperm in a way that leads to embryo death unless this modification is 'rescued' by the same bacteria in the eggs. CI has been reported in many insect species, as well as in mites and woodlice. Aside from Wolbachia, CI can be induced by the bacteria Cardinium,Rickettsiella, Candidatus Mesenet longicola and Spiroplasma. CI is currently being exploited as a mechanism for Wolbachia-mediated disease control in mosquitoes.
Tetrastichus planipennisi is a parasitic non-stinging wasp of the family Eulophidae which is native to North Asia. It is a parasitoid of the emerald ash borer, an invasive species which has destroyed tens of millions of ash trees in its introduced range in North America. As part of the campaign against the emerald ash borer (EAB), American scientists in conjunction with the Chinese Academy of Forestry searched since 2003 for its natural enemies in the wild leading to the discovery of several parasitoid wasps, including Tetrastichus planipennisi which is a gregarious endoparasitoid of EAB larvae on Manchurian Ash and has been recorded to attack and kill up to 50 percent of EAB larvae.
Spathius agrili is a parasitic non-stinging wasp of family Braconidae which is native to North Asia. It is a parasitoid of the emerald ash borer, an invasive species which has destroyed tens of millions of ash trees in its introduced range in North America. As part of the campaign against the emerald ash borer (EAB), American scientists in conjunction with the Chinese Academy of Forestry began searching in 2003 for its natural enemies in the wild, leading to the discovery of several parasitoid wasp species, including Spathius agrili. S. agrili was discovered in Tianjin, China where it is a prevalent parasitoid of EAB larvae in stands of an introduced ash species, and an endemic ash species. S. agrili has been recorded to attack and kill up to 90 percent of EAB larvae.
The Drosophila quinaria species group is a speciose lineage of mushroom-feeding flies studied for their specialist ecology, their parasites, population genetics, and the evolution of immune systems. Quinaria species are part of the Drosophila subgenus.
