Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (2000) 97, 161-166

Sanford D. Eigenbrode, Linda Rayor, Jennifer Chow and Paul Latty (2000)
Effect of wax bloom variation in Brassica oleracea on foraging by a vespid wasp
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 97 (2), 161-166
Abstract: Foraging by individual Polistes dominulus (Christ) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) was observed and compared on Brassica oleracea L. plants that differed in surface wax bloom. Twenty-six wasps, previously trained to forage on plants for 4th instar Trichoplusia ni (Walker), were presented in the greenhouse with mixtures of plants with normal wax bloom or genetically reduced wax bloom, and on which T. ni caterpillars had been placed. During foraging, the wasps were observed to slip significantly more frequently from the leaf surfaces of normal-wax bloom plants than from reduced-wax bloom plants (129 vs 63 occurrences) and to retrieve significantly fewer pieces of caterpillar after attack on normal-wax bloom plants (151 vs 223 pieces). Altogether the wasps retrieved 333 caterpillar pieces from reduced-wax bloom plants and 248 pieces from normal-wax bloom plants. Despite these differences, the number of caterpillars attacked and killed did not differ between the two wax bloom types (116 vs 121), nor did handling time for individual attacks (time from contact with prey until prey piece was carried to the nest) (170±12.5 s vs 180±10.5 s). Thus, in contrast with previous reports for smaller predators, wax bloom variation in B. oleracea did not influence the effectiveness of P. dominulus as a predator of T. ni.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Sanford D. Eigenbrode

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
environment/habitat manipulation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Trichoplusia ni	Cabbage (Brassica oleracea)
Polistes dominula (predator)	Trichoplusia ni	Cabbage (Brassica oleracea)