Effects of host density and refuge on the sex ratio of progeny of hymenopterous parasitoids was tested with Bracon hebetor Say parasitizing Plodia interpunctella (Hübner). The overall sex ratio (male/total) of progeny produced per female with and without refuge was estimated to be 0.49 and 0.41, respectively. Regardless of refuge, the sex ratio decreased as host density increased. But, at host density of 128 with refuge the sex ratio was significantly lower than that without regfuge (t=-2.17, df=24; P=0.040). The number of pupae per host larva with refuge was similar to that without refuge at the host densities tested (t=-0.10, df=53.4; P=0.921). The number of attacked host larvae showed significantly different at all host densities with and without refuge (t=-3.33, df=209; P=0.001).

Platygaster robiniae Buhl and Duso (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) is a gregarious koinobiont endoparasitoid of Obolodiplosis robiniae (Haldeman) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). The life cycle and development of the parasite is described. P. robiniae proves to be an egg-larval parasitoid, parasitizing eggs of O. robiniae and emerging from host larvae, and eggs of the wasp develop monembryonically. Its egg and embryonic stages are prolonged to some extent. The parasitoid undergoes only one larval instar, and total development time from egg to adult takes about 28 days to complete. The life cycle of a parasitoid generation is perfectly synchronized with that of the host: the waps emerges near the emergence time of the host, so that they can parasitize host eggs.

A commercial egg parasitoid, Trichogramma sp. Nabis101, was released into agricultural cultivating areas in Korea due to its wide host spectrum against insect pests. Moreover, an application technique has been recently developed to enhance its control efficacy by mixture treatment with a microbial control agent. Despite its expansion of commercial availability, any genetic identification on this commercial strain was not determined. Also, to meet inconsistent demands from consumers, the live parasitoids need to be stored without significant loss of their survival and parasitic activity. This study determined nucleotide sequence of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the wasp species. The identified ITS sequences indicate that this wasp species is most similar to T. brasiliensis. Optimal storage condition of this wasp required young parasitized stage at 10℃. Under these conditions, survival, sex ratio, longevity, and parasitic behavior were not much impaired for 5 weeks.

The kairomonal activity of the aggregation pheromones of Riptortus clavatus for the egg parasitoid, Gryon japonicum , were investigated in soybean field. The parasitism rate of G. japonicum gradually decreased when the distances between pheromone traps and egg sites were increased from 0 to 15 m. The active distance of pheromone source for parasitoid attraction was estimated to be ca. 15 m. Under field conditions, the parasitoid wasp population peaked during the late August and early September, and the parasitism rate increased when the number of pheromone traps was increased from one to three per 165 ㎡. However, insecticide-treated plots, the level of parasitism recorded is relatively low. Sex ratios in field populations of G. japonicum were female-biased.

Due to internal feeding behavior, the oriental tobacco budworm, Helicoverpa assulta (Guenée), infesting hot pepper has been regarded to be effectively controlled by targeting egg and neonate larval stages just before entering the fruits. This study aimed to develop an efficient biological control method focusing on these susceptible stages of H. assulta. An egg parasitoid wasp, Trichogramma evanescens Westwood, was confirmed to parasitize the eggs of H. assulta. A mixture of Gram-positive soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki, and Gram-negative entomopathogenic bacterium, Xenorhabdus nematophila ANU101, could effectively kill neonate larvae of H. assulta. A sex pheromone trap monitored the occurrence of field H. assulta adults. The microbial insecticide mixture was proved to give no detrimental effects on immature development and adult survival of the wasp by both feeding and contact toxicity tests. A combined treatment of egg parasitoid and microbial pesticide was applied to hot pepper fields infested by H. assulta. The mixture treatment of both biological control agents significantly decreased the fruit damage, which was comparable to the chemical insecticide treatment, though either single biological control agent did not show any significant control efficacy. This study also provides morphological and genetic characters of T. evanescens.

For the physiological study on environmental impact of genetically modified (GM) pepper plant on non-target but three-trophically related insect species, we investigated behavioral responses of Aphis gossypii and Aphidius colemani in Y-tube olfactometer to the cucumber mosaic virus (CMV)-resistant transgenic pepper plant (H15 GM line) expressing coat protein gene of CMV and its wild type pepper plant (untransformed, susceptible to CMV pathotype II, P2377 inbred line) in relation to CMV infection. CMV-infected plants were prepared with the 30 min of inoculation by the winged A. gossypii viruliferous or mechanical inoculation using CMV-Fny, and with molecular diagnosis using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) over 2 weeks after inoculation. In this study, time for attraction responses (attraction time) of A. gossypii were not significantly different in the pepper strain, and the virus infection of plant. However, the attraction time of A. colemani was significantly different between the GM plant and the non-GM plant. In addition, the attraction time of A. colemani to the GM plant was significantly decreased according to the CMV infection. For further study, the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by these plants were collected with an entrainment kit and analyzed by Gas Chromatography (GC) on HP-1 column. The specific VOCs related to CMV infection were detected in the GM plant over 4 weeks after inoculation of CMV in this study. Thus, it is suggested that VOCs of the GM plant in this study may be produced more as a signal attracting A. colemani in relation to CMV infection.

In many host-parasite interactions, intraspecific competition among host could have a significant role to the host-parasite population dynamics, yet so far a few studies has been reported theoretically and experimentally(ex. Umbanhowar and Hastings, 2002). We examined the effect of larval competition using a stage-structured matrix model with parameters estimated from the Plodia interpunctella-Bracon hebetor and Sitophilus zeamais-Aniopteromalus calandrae experimental system. The maize weevil population showed a typical growth pattern of populations with contest type competition. After introduction of A. calandrae to the system, maize weevil population was dramatically decreased to be extinct. In contrast, the Indian meal moth population showed a typical pattern of scramble type competition. Introduction of B. hebetor to the system induced higher moth density and longer persistence of the Indian meal moth population than that in the maize weevil system. These results seem to be caused by differences in intraspecific competition between Indian meal moth and maize weevil. The applications of these results should be considered in biological control of Indian meal moth.

DNA in the eukaryotic nucleus is packaged into highly organized chromatin. The basic structural unit of chromatin is the nucleosome, which consists of approximately 146 base pairs of DNA wrapped around a histone octamer core containing two molecules each of core histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4. Histone covalent modification at the protruding N-terminal region from the nucleosomal core can change the chromatin conformation in order to regulate gene expression. A viral H4 was found in the genome of Cotesia plutellae bracovirus (CpBV). The obligate host of the virus is an endoparasitoid wasp, C. plutellae, which parasitizes the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, and interrupts host development and immune reactions. CpBV-H4 has been regarded as an immunosuppressive gene. Its extended N-terminal region contains nine lysine residues which are the target for modification. Previous report showed that CpBV-H4 inhibited hemocyte-spreading after transient expression. Here, transient expression of truncated CpBV-H4 (without N-terminal region) did not show high inhibitory effects on hemocyte-spreading. Moreover, the truncated CpBV-H4 induced acetylation of nucleus histone H4. Host H4 was found to be decreased in transcription after parasitization compared to nonparasitized larvae. Atransient expression of CpBV-H4 significantly inhibited host H4 transcription, suggesting a role of CpBV-H4 in controlling gene expression. Point mutagenesis study showed that two lysines (K6 and K16) of CpBV-H4 were found to have high inhibitory effects on hemocyte spreading. These results indicate the importance of CpBV-H4 and its N-terminal region to control gene expression and suppress host immunity.

Two hymenopteran egg parasitoid species, Gryon japonicum (Ashmead) (Scelionidae) and Ooencyrtus nezarae Ishii (Encyrtidae), were emerged from eggs of bean bug, Riptortus clavatus Thunberg (Heteroptera: Alydidae). The former parasitoid is first recorded in Korea. Brief morphological and biological characteristics, and parasitism on R. clavatus eggs are described.

From the surveys of 2005 and 2006 in Korea, Trissolcus nigripedius was found in four locations, i.e., Andong, Miryang, Namhae, and Suwon, and one of the major egg parasitoids of Dolycoris baccarum. T nigripedius was also found to parasitize two other soybean bugs, Riptortus clavatus and Piezodorus hybneri, from the field collection in 2005. Host acceptance behaviors of T. nigripedius consisting of drumming, oviposition, and marking were observed and compared on five species of soybean bugs. T. nigripedius showed the complete host acceptance behaviors on the eggs of D. baccarum, P. hybneri, and Halyomorpha halys. But T. nigripedius emerged only from the eggs of D. baccarum (96%) and P. hybneri (75%) after 24 hours of exposure. T. nigripedius did not mark on the eggs of R. clavatus and Nezara antennata during the observation of behavior, hence no egg deposition was made. However, T. nigripedius parasitized 20% and killed 30% of the eggs of R. clavatus when 24 hours were given for parasitization. T. nigripedius would be a potential biological control agent of D. baccarum and P. hybneri with ability of giving additional mortality on R. clavatus in soybean field.

As the results achieved by the evaluation of toxicities on an aphid parasitoid, Aphidius colemani by 79 pesticides registered as horticultural pesticide and 4 adjuvants for pest control, 6 insecticides including a-cypermethrin, 13 fungicides including metalaxyl-M+mancozeb and 4 acaricides including bifenazate showed low toxicity against A. colemani adult. Low toxicity was showed in all the 4 adjuvants as well. In residual toxicity test from 40 pesticides which showed toxicity more than 50%, A. colemani was safe from 11 pesticides from the 3th day after treatment, 7 pesticides from the 5th day after treatment and 14 pesticides from the 7th day after treatment, respectively. But, chlorpyrifos-methyl, diflubenzuron+chlorpyrifos, etofenprox+diazinone and imidachloprid+chlorpyrifos showed high toxicities reaching 100%, 97.7%, 100% and 100% respectively, even from the 7th day after treatment. To evaluate the control effect by A. colemani against Myzus persicae in a greenhouse, A. colemani was released at parasitoid versus aphids rates of 1:50 and 1:100 when the population of M. persicae was 50 per plant. After release, aphids population remained steady for 20 days after release at the level of around 60 aphids per plant During the investigation, insecticides for thrips control and fungicides for powdery mildew control were treated, but didn"t affect the mummy forming of A. colemani. It may be suggested from these results that the selected insecticides, fungicides, acaricides and adjuvent could be incorporated into the integrated M. persicae management system with A. colemani on greenhouse cultivation.

남색긴꼬리좀벌은 밤나무혹벌의 유충을 공격하는 외부기생성 천적으로 판명되었다. 남색긴꼬리좀벌의 수명은 꿀 원액을 공급한 경우 에서의 암컷성충 일이었으며 아무것도 공급하지 않은 경우 일이었다. 산란수는 에서 개체, 에서 개체이었으며 산란초기에 다수 산란하는 경향을 보였다. 알은 장타원형으로 백색이며, 길이는 이었고, 충방(gall chamber)당 1개의 알을 산란하나 중복하여 산란하는 경우도 관찰되었다. 유충은 백색이며 길이는 이었고, 암컷 용의 길이는 , 숫컷 용의 길이는 로 암컷이 수컷에 비하여 컸다. 강원도 춘천지역에서는 년 2세대 발생했으며, 월동세대 성충발생기간은 5월 하순-6월 상순이었고 제1세대 성충발생기간은 6월 하순-7월 상순이었다. 경상남도 하동지역에서는 년 3세대 발생했으며, 월동세대 성충발생기간은 5월 중순-6월 상순, 제 1세대는 6월 하순-7월 상순, 제 2세대는 7월 하순-8월 상순이었다

경남진주의 콩포장과 대학 캠퍼스에서 톱다리개미허리노린재의 집합페로몬을 사용하여 난기 생봉인 Ooencyrtus nerarae(Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae)의 발생소장을 조사하였다. 2003년과 2004년에 대학 캠퍼스에 설치된 트랩에 유살된 암컷의 수는 수컷 유살수의 317.5배와 103.4배이었고, 2004년 콩포장에서는 12.6배이었다. 콩포장에서 O. nezarae의 암컷은 8월 하순부터 유살되기 시작하여 9월 20일 전후에 가장 많이 유살되었다. 2003년과 2004년에 대학 캠퍼스에서는 8월 중하순부터 밀도가 증가하여 9월 상중순에 최성기를 나타내었다. 두 조사지역에서 모두 10월 이후에는 거의 발생하지 않았다. 톱다리개미허리노린재의 집합페로몬 세 성분, 즉 (E)-2-hexenyl (Z)-3-hexenoate(E2HZ3H)와 (E)-2-hexenyl (E)-2-hexenoate(E2HE2H) 및 myristyl isobutyrate(MI) 중에서 E2HZ3H 만이 O. nerarae에 대해 유인력을 나타내었다. E2HZ3H:E2HE2H:MI를 7:36:7로 배합한 것보다는 20:20:10이나 16.7:16.7:16.7으로 배합한 트랩에 더 많은 수가 유인되었는데, 이는 배합된 E2HZ3H의 량 때문인 것으로 추정된다.