Journal of Insect Science (2015) 15 (40), 1-4

Orcial Ceolin Bortolotto, Ayres de Oliveira Menezes Júnior and Adriano Thibes Hoshino (2015)
Aphidophagous parasitoids can forage wheat crops before aphid infestation, Parana State, Brazil
Journal of Insect Science 15 (40), 1-4
Abstract: Aphid parasitoids are common in Brazilian wheat fields, and parasitize aphids at the wheat tillering stage. However, there is little information available about when this natural enemy occurs in wheat crops. This study investigated the initial occurrence of aphid parasitoids in four commercial wheat crops in northern Paraná during the 2009 crop season. We installed two Malaise traps at each wheat farm, and 400 tillers were assessed weekly in each field for aphid abundance. During this study, we captured 4,355 aphid parasitoids and 197 aphids. Three species of braconid parasitoids were identified, including Aphidius colemani (Viereck 1912), Lysiphlebus testaceipes (Cresson 1880), and Diaeretiella rapae (McIntosh 1855). The aphids species identified were Rhopalosiphum padi (Linnaeus 1758) and Sitobion avenae (Fabricius 1775). This study showed that aphid parasitoids are present in wheat crops even when aphid densities are low, and in one farm, occurred before the aphids colonization. These reports demonstrate the high efficiency of these natural enemies against aphids in wheat fields.
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Database assignments for author(s): Orcial Ceolin Bortolotto

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
population dynamics/epizootiology

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Sitobion avenae	Wheat (Triticum)	Brazil (south)
	Rhopalosiphum padi	Wheat (Triticum)	Brazil (south)
Lysiphlebus testaceipes (parasitoid)			Brazil (south)
Aphidius colemani (parasitoid)			Brazil (south)
Diaeretiella rapae (parasitoid)			Brazil (south)