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Title: Mass-rearing Bemisia parasitoids for support of classical and augmentative biological control programs

Author
item Goolsby, John
item CIOMPERLIK, MATTHEW - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
item SIMMONS, GREGORY - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
item PICKETT, CHARLES - California Department Of Food And Agriculture
item GOULD, JULI - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
item Hoelmer, Kim

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/14/2013
Publication Date: 1/2/2014
Citation: Goolsby, J., Ciomperlik, M.A., Simmons, G.S., Pickett, C.J., Gould, J.A., Hoelmer, K.A. 2014. Mass-rearing Bemisia parasitoids for support of classical and augmentative biological control programs. In: Morales-Ramos, J. A., Rojas, M. G., Shapiro-Ilan, D. I., editors. Mass Production of Beneficial Organisms: Invertebrates and Entomopathogens. Waltham, MA: Academic Press. p. 145-161

Interpretive Summary: Silverleaf whitefly was a major pest of subtropical agriculture and glasshouse production in the 1990s. A large-scale, classical biological control program was initiated by USDA-ARS & APHIS to minimize the field impact of this pest. Several beneficial insects were imported to the U.S. from the native range of silverleaf whitefly in Asia and Africa. The beneficial insects were tiny parasitic wasps that attack the immature stages of the whitefly. Methods were developed to rear millions of these beneficial, parasitic wasps for distribution in the U.S. where silverleaf whitefly was a pest. The methods to rear the wasps are covered in detail in this book chapter so that others in the future will be able to quickly design and implement these rearing methods.

Technical Abstract: The development of efficient mass-rearing systems for Bemisia parasitoids was crucial for the implementation of the classical and augmentative biological control programs for this exotic pest. Early work relied on adapting methods for the production of Encarsia formosa (Gahan) for the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood). Production systems for the Nearctic parasitoid Eretmocerus eremicus (Rose & Zolnerowich) were developed using this system, but new production techniques were needed for the exotic Palearctic parasitoids that were imported during the biological control program, such as Eretmocerus mundus (Mercet), E. emiratus, and E. hayati, which are unable to develop successfully in Trialeurodes species. In this book chapter, we describe several rearing techniques developed in support of augmentative biological control demonstration projects in California, Arizona, and Texas to establish new species of Eretmocerus and for greenhouse biological control evaluations in several states. The species reared on Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) biotype “B” using the systems described here include all of the Eretmocerus species that were obtained in the worldwide effort to collect more effective Bemisia parasitoids. These include some of the most effective Palearctic and North American species: Eretmocerus emiratus (Zolnerowich & Rose), E. mundus, E. hayati (Zolnerowich & Rose), and E. eremicus.