Journal of Pest Science (2021) 94, 817-827

Scott Hardwick and Craig B. Phillips (2021)
Captive sentinel hosts efficiently measure the establishment, seasonality and dispersal of a parasitoid biological control agent
Journal of Pest Science 94 (3), 817-827
Abstract: Introduced biological control agents are used to suppress populations and reduce the damage caused by many exotic herbivorous insects in New Zealand pasture. Understanding the dispersal behaviour of a recently introduced biocontrol agent in its new environment is important as it helps biocontrol practitioners make decisions on the number and location of future releases. In this study, a monitoring device which contained sentinel hosts was developed to monitor the establishment and dispersal of the Irish strain of Microctonus aethiopoides (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) into areas of the South Island of New Zealand where the clover pest Sitona obsoletus Gmelin (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) had recently become established. Field tests of the monitoring device at five sites in Marlborough confirmed that M. aethiopoides would enter the device through a 900 µm mesh and parasitise the sentinel weevils within. In a further trial conducted over 4 years at four sites in North Canterbury, monitoring devices successfully tracked the dispersal and establishment of M. aethiopoides at sites up to 27 km from the original release site. Monitoring devices containing sentinel hosts may help reduce the cost of classical biological control programmes as they enable rapid sampling of numerous sites and largely eliminate the time consuming practice of dissecting field collected hosts to determine the presence of the parasitoid.
(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): Scott Hardwick, Craig B. Phillips

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

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Sitona obsoletus	Clover (Trifolium)	New Zealand
Microctonus aethiopoides (parasitoid)	Sitona obsoletus	Clover (Trifolium)	New Zealand