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Megacopta cribraria (Fabricius) (Hemiptera: Plataspidae), commonly called the kudzu bug, is a pest of concern in many soybean and legume-producing states. It was first detected in the United States in 2009. In the southeastern United States, M. cribraria reduced crop yields by 47% in untreated soybean fields. Paratelenomus saccharalis (Dodd) (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) is a known parasitoid of the kudzu bug, and a potential biological control agent. This study was comprised of three phases: (1) Preliminary assessment of the presence of the kudzu bug and its parasites in north Florida and south Georgia. (2) Measurements of the levels of parasitism in 12 sites selected from the preliminary evaluation to compare population dynamics in two growing seasons in agricultural, forested, and urban areas. (3) Laboratory studies to measure parasitism after 21 days in controlled environments. The preliminary assessment showed that in both 2016 and 2017, P. saccharalis emerged from eggs of M. cribraria collected in Leon and Gadsden County. Additionally, parasitism was recorded for the recently discovered egg parasitoid in north Florida, Ooencyrtus nezarae (Ishii) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). In the assessment of parasitism in the field, differences were observed in the average level of parasitism within the urban and forest area in both years, and in the agricultural area for 2017. Between-group comparisons indicated significant differences between the average parasitism levels in agricultural, urban, and forested areas in 2016; in 2017, the differences between the areas were not significant. In the laboratory, after 21 days of observation, an average of 77.4% of freshly laid and 61.6% of cooled eggs were parasitized by P. saccharalis, and adult parasitoids emerged. There was a significant difference in the emergence of freshly laid eggs over cooled eggs. This study suggests that both P. saccharalis and O. nezarae exert some levels of natural control of the kudzu bug in the field and may be useful as biological control agents in an integrated pest management program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spread of the western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), has resulted in the world-wide destabilization of established integrated pest management programs for many crops. It is hypothesized that frequent exposure to insecticides in intensive agriculture selected for resistant populations, which allowed invasive populations in the eastern USA to overcome biotic resistance from the native community of species. Research conducted in Florida to understand the role of biotic factors in limiting the abundance of the western flower thrips is reviewed. Orius spp. (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) are effective predators that suppress populations of thrips on crop and non-crop hosts in southern and northern Florida. Orius are more effective predators of the western flower thrips than the native flower thrips, F. tritici (Fitch) and F. bispinosa (Morgan). The native species are competitors of the western flower thrips. Excessive fertilization and the use of broad-spectrum insecticides in crop fields further enhances populations of the western flower thrips. Interactions with native species clearly limit the abundance of western flower thrips in Florida, but populations are abundant in fertilized crop fields where application of insecticides excludes predators and competitor species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crapemyrtle is a common landscape planting that is a resource subsidy for beneficial insects. Field studies were conducted to determine the influence of crapemyrtle flower color on the population abundances and predator--prey dynamics of the herbivorous Frankliniella species and the predator Orius insidiosus. Adults and immatures of predator and prey were highly anthophilous, preferring white 'Acoma' flowers compared with lavender 'Apalachee', red 'Carolina Beauty', and pink 'Choctaw'. The predator was aggregated with its prey in a density-dependent manner: the adults by preferring the crapemyrtle clones also preferred by the thrips and the nymphs by direct tracking or as a function of increased prey and fecundity. Acoma was best for preference and buildup of O. insidiosus populations, and it was the only clone where there was no buildup in thrips populations. Two species of Karnyothrips (Thysanoptera: Phlaoethripidae), predators of small insects, were common in Tillandsia usneoides, an epiphyte on the crapemyrtle. Crapemyrtle is a bridge to enhance populations of O. insidiosus during summer months when there are few other hosts in the southern USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soils collected from the natural habitats of I. dixitei Shende . have been analysed for the, available plant nutrients. The amount of nutrients have then been correlated with the growth performance of this species. The preceding analysis reveals that the habit of plants of I. dixitei are influenced -by many overriding soils. However, the occurrence of stunted growth of some populations may be attributed to a comparatively high zinc and copper contents in the soils since these two minerals have been found to exhibit a significant though negative correlation with the plant lengths of the various populations of I. dixitei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]