The mass-rearing system for Neodryinus typhlocybae as a biological control agent of Metcalfa pruinosa was established. Depending on the density of host nymphs and plants, the average number of cocoons produced by the parasitoids was 5-8 and 70-150 cocoons per leaf and sapling of mulberry, respectively. There is a significant difference in cocoon length between females (6.10-6.46 mm) and males (4.20-4.62 mm). Sex determination of cocoons before emergence will be helpful for efficiently releasing this parasitoid in fields. The parasitic rate of N. typhlocybae at the semi-field condition was on average 13-17%. The release number of this parasitoid did not affect parasitism. Nevertheless, the population growth rate of M. pruinosa was reduced by increasing the release number of N. typhlocybae. The parasitoid offspring’s sex and bivoltine were influenced by the host age. On young host nymphs, the bivoltine portion of parasitoid increased. When parasitized on 4th or 5th nymphs, the offspring’s female ratio of N. typhlocybae increased. This result may be useful for potentially controlling mass rearing production of parasitoid.

Biological control has emerged due to the side effects of chemical control such as residual and toxicity. One of the biological controls is entomopathogenic fungi. The entomopathogenic fungus used in this study was first detected in the insectary. The fungus was identified as Lecanicillium sp. based on the sequences of the ITS1 and 2 regions. Lecanicillium sp. infects aphids, scale insects and whiteflies, especially Myzus persicae and Aphis gossypii. In this study, we characterized the fungal phenotype, growth condition, and pathogenicity against green peach aphid. Mycelial growth of Lecanicillium sp. was 12.79±0.46 mm diameter during 7days on potato dextrose agar at 25℃. In addition, the fungus was able to annihilate 100% green peach aphids, after 8days of inoculation. Ultimately, this study would be provide new information on Lecanicillium sp. and suggest the potential utilization of this fungus as a biological control agent.

The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is an invasive insect pest from Eastern Asia. Since its invasion into North America during the late 1990s, frequent outbreaks of BMSB have caused considerable economic damage to orchards, field crops, and vegetables. Currently, management practices in the United States rely on insecticides to control BMSB. Therefore, identification of potential natural enemies of BMSB is crucial to justify integrated pest management (IPM). We investigated the viability of using the spined soldier bug, Podisus maculiventris (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), as a potential biological control agent for BMSB. In this study, we used choice and non-choice tests to determine which life stages of the spined soldier bug can effectively kill specific stages of BMSB using videography. Prey searching and feeding behavior of the spined soldier bug and defensive behavior of BMSB were analyzed. Our study showed that BMSB eggs and nymphs attacked by the spined soldier bug had a mortality rate of 100%. We also observed that all first instar BMSB remained on the egg cluster allowing the spined soldier bug to attack and kill many BMSB during one feeding session. The results indicate that the spined soldier bug has the potential for killing BMSB

Predation, development, and ovipostion experiments were conducted to evaluate Amblyseius swirskii (Athias-Henriot) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) as a potential biological control agent for tomato russet mite, Aculops lycopersici (Massee) (Acari: Eriophyidae) which is a periodic pest of greenhouse tomatoes. Results show that A. swirskii attacked all developmental stages of A. lycopersici, and had a type II functional response on the prey densities given. The predation rates of A. swirskii on A. lycopersici in the presense of alternative food sources such as pollen, thrips first instar, or whitefly eggs were recorded as 74%, 56%, and 76%, respectively of the predation rate on A. lycopersici alone. Amblyseius swirskii successfully completed their life-cycle on either A. lycopersici or cattail pollen. At 25oC, 70% RH, development time of female A. swirskii fed on A. lycopersici or on cattail pollen took 5.0 and 6.2 days, respectively. For the first 10 days after moulting to the adult stage, A. swirskii fed on A. lycopersici had higher daily oviposition rate (2.0 eggs per day) than on pollen (1.5 eggs per day). From this laboratory study, it can be concluded that A. swirskii has promising traits as a predator against A. lycopersici and that their populations can be stably maintained using alternative food such as cattail pollen. We suggest that the effectiveness of A. swirskii against A. lycopersici under field conditions deserves to be investigated.

As indigenous aphid parasitoid, Aphelinus varipes kill aphids for feeding in addition to parasitization. Because of this characteristic of A. varipes, this parasitoid may have the possibility of biological control agent against aphids. So we have evaluated traits such as daily paratization, total parasization, number of aphids killed by host feeding, sex ratio, development time, pupal mortality of A. varipes parasitizing green peach aphid, Myzus persicae. At 25°C and 16L:8D, longevity, total paratization and host feeding of A. varipes female was 11.0, 25.3, and 63.3 days, respectively. And development time of male and female, sex ratio (M:F), pupa mortality of offspring of A. varipes were 12.0 days, 12.5 days, 0.88, and 11.6%, respectively. However, because these results are not enough to estimate potential of A. varipes as biological control agents/factors, other factors such as host suitability (Macrosiphum euphorbiae, Aulacorthum solani), effect of temperature, and host seeking behavior of A. varipes continually will be investigated.