Environmental Entomology (1983) 12, 1318-1321

L.M. Los and W.A. Allen (1983)
Incidence of Zoophthora phytonomi (Zygomycetes: Entomophthorales) in Hypera postica (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) larvae in Virginia
Environmental Entomology 12 (5), 1318-1321
Abstract: Infection rates of Zoophthora phytonomi (Arthur) Batko in alfalfa weevil, Hypera postica (Gyllenhal), larvae were monitored from 1979 through 1981 in Rockbridge County, Va. Infection rates of the pathogen were highest near the end of the spring alfalfa crop when alfalfa weevil larval populations were declining. Z. phytonomi was effective in suppressing alfalfa weevil populations below economic threshold levels only during a period of higher rainfall that occurred in 1979. A negative correlation between infection rates of Z. phytonomi and parasitization rates of the ichneumonid parasite Bathyplectes anurus (Thomson) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) suggests a possible interference between these two natural control agents.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)

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

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Hypera postica	Alfalfa/lucerne (Medicago sativa)	U.S.A. (NE)
Zoophthora phytonomi (entomopathogen)	Hypera postica		U.S.A. (NE)
Bathyplectes anurus (parasitoid)	Hypera postica	Alfalfa/lucerne (Medicago sativa)	U.S.A. (NE)