Natural and Biological Controls of Shade Tree Insect Pests
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Natural and Biological Controls of Shade Tree Insect Pests Whitney Cranshaw Colorado State University Natural Controls Natural Enemies Abiotic (Weather) Controls Topographic Limitations Temperature Extremes Heavy Rainfall Abiotic (Weather-related) Controls of Insects N Natural Enemies • Predators • Parasitoids • Pathogens Characteristics of Insect Predators • Immature stages actively hunt prey • Several prey are consumed in the course of development • Adults may or may not have similar food needs as immature form Some Common Arthropod Predators • Lady beetles • Assassin bugs • Ground beetles • Predatory stink • Clerid beetles bugs • Lacewings • Minute pirate bugs • Flower flies • Predatory thrips • Robber flies • Predatory mites • Mantids • All spiders Most lady beetle adults are brightly colored Photograph courtesy Jim Kalisch The “bad apple” of the lady beetle clan Eggs Adult Mexican bean beetle - a plant feeding lady beetle Larva Pupa Adults Eggs Lady Beetle Life Stages Larva Pupae Twospotted lady beetle with newly laid egg mass Lady beetles with egg masses Lady beetles lay masses of eggs near sources of food for their young Lady beetle larvae at egg hatch Lady beetle larvae Predators of small soft- bodied arthropods (aphids etc…) Some odd looking lady beetle larvae ”Woolly” looking larvae that feed on scale insects Spider mite specialists are tiny Lady beetle prepupae Lady beetle pupae Convergent lady beetles Multicolored Asian lady beetle Adult lady beetles emerging from the pupa Purchasing lady beetles? Convergent lady beetle – the lady beetle of commerce Purchasing lady beetles? Lady beetle releases are fun Clerid Beetles Coleoptera: Cleridae Clerid Beetles Adults feed on insects present on the bark Larvae feed on insects under the bark Green Lacewings Neuroptera: Chrysopidae Adult green lacewings sustain themselves on nectar and pollen Green lacewing eggs are uniquely stalked Green lacewing eggs often are laid in groups. Egg hatch has occurred in the lower picture. Photographs courtesy of Brian Valentine Left: Green lacewing larva eating aphid Right: Green lacewing larva eating leaf beetle larva Green lacewing pupae, within cocoons Green lacewing eggs are available from many suppliers that rear/distribute insects Brown Lacewings Neuroptera: Hemerobiidae Brown lacewing adults Brown lacewing larvae Flower (Syrphid) Flies Syrphid flies are excellent mimics of bees and wasps Honey Bees Flower (Syrphid) Flies Syrphid fly eggs are typically laid in an aphid colony Photograph courtesy Brian Valentine Flower fly larvae Syrphid “smear’ Predatory Hemiptera • Predatory stink bugs • Assassin bugs • Damsel bugs • Minute pirate bugs • Geocoris spp. seed bugs • Daereocoris spp. plant bugs Minute pirate bugs Hemiptera: Anthocoridae Feeding on a thrips Feeding on a small caterpillar Nymph feeding on an aphid Adult feeding on spider mite eggs Assassin Bugs Hemiptera: Reduviidae An Assassin Bug - Zelus luridus Egg mass and nymph Adult Nymph feeding on wasp Photograph by Jim Kalisch, University of Nebraska Largest regional Wheel Bug (Arilus cristatus) assassin bug Ambush Bugs Phymata spp. Clockwise from upper right: Ambush bug feeding on a sweat bee, fritillary butterfly, and honey bee. Predatory Stink Bugs Hemiptera: Pentatomidae Stink bugs with prey Spiders Order Araneae Some spiders use webbing to snare prey Some spiders hunt prey without the aid of silk Characteristics of Insect Parasitoids • Larvae develop in, rarely on, their hosts – One or more larvae develop in a single host • They are invariably lethal to the host – “parasitoids” • Adults often have different food needs – Nectar, honeydew – Pollen – Insect blood feeding may occur Common Insect Parasitoids • Parasitic Hymenoptera – Braconid wasps – Ichneumonid wasps – Chalcid wasps – Eulophid wasp – Trichogrammatid wasps • Parasitic Diptera – Tachinid flies Parasitic Wasps Ichneumonidae, Braconidae, Eulophidae, Trichogrammatidae, Encrytidae, Chalcidae and other families Parasitic wasps sustain themselves on nectar and pollen Some parasitic wasps Females possess an ovipositor (“stinger’) Photograph courtesy Brian Valentine Parasitic Wasps – Male (left) and Female (right) Ectoparasitic wasp larvae on fall webworm caterpillar host Parasitoid larvae emerging from caterpillar host Parasitoid larvae (Cotesia glomeratus) emerging from cabbageworm host and spinning pupal cocoons Cocoons of cabbageworm parasitoid Some parasitoids pupate on the insect host. Left: Buck moth caterpillar Below: Tobacco hornworm Giant Ichneumon Wasp, Parasitoid of the Pigeon Tremex Horntail Pigeon Tremex and Giant Ichneumon Wasp Fact Sheet 5.604 Pigeon tremex – a wood boring wasp of deciduous trees in decline Giant ichneumon wasp – the most spectacular natural enemy of the pigeon tremex Ovipositor Sheaths Egg parasitoids Trichogramma wasps, a type of egg parasitoid What’s wrong with this picture? Aphid parasitoids Host evaluation Oviposition Photographs courtesy of Brian Valentine Aphid Mummies Aphid showing early symptoms of parasitism Parasitized psyllids (above) and Parasitized aphids (above) and European soft scale (below) oystershell scale (below) Tachinid Flies Tachinid fly eggs on tent caterpillar (above), squash bug nymphs (upper right), Japanese beetle .