Carry-Over Niches for Lepidopteran Maize Stemborers and Associated Parasitoids during Non-Cropping Season.

Sources of infestation are the key elements to be considered in the development of habitat management techniques for the control of maize stemborers. Several wild plants, grasses mostly, have been identified that serve as hosts for stemborers and their parasitoids during the off-season when maize is not present in the field. However, their abundance is much lower in wild plants compared to cultivated fields.

Systematics and biology of sp. n. (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae), a potential biological control agent against the noctuid Mediterranean corn borer, .

Many parasitoid species are subjected to strong selective pressures from their host, and their adaptive response may result in the formation of genetically differentiated populations, called host races. When environmental factors and reproduction traits prevent gene flow, host races become distinct species. Such a process has recently been documented within the species complex, all of which are larval parasitoids of moth species whose larvae are stem borers of Poales.

Ongoing ecological speciation in Cotesia sesamiae, a biological control agent of cereal stem borers.

To develop efficient and safe biological control, we need to reliably identify natural enemy species, determine their host range, and understand the mechanisms that drive host range evolution. We investigated these points in Cotesia sesamiae, an African parasitic wasp of cereal stem borers. Phylogenetic analyses of 74 individual wasps, based on six mitochondrial and nuclear genes, revealed three lineages.