A field cage evaluation of the parasitoid Eretmocerus nr. californicus as a biological control agent of Bemisia argentifolii Bellows & Perring was conducted in Southern California cotton during June through August of 1992. Percentage of parasitism was highest in early August at 61% in the high parasitoid release treatment and was significantly higher than both the low parasitoid release and control treatments. The density of B. argentifolii pupae on leaves in the high parasitoid release treatment was approximately one-fifth of the other treatments. Seed cotton yield was significantly higher in the high parasitoid release cage in comparison with those of the low parasitoid release and control cages. We conclude that E. nr. californicus may be a useful control agent in an augmentative release strategy against whitefly on cotton and is deserving of large-scale, open field studies.

The European grapevine moth, a Palearctic pest, was first detected in the Americas in 2008. Its establishment in Chile presented production and export issues for grapes and other fruits, and a national control campaign was launched. Urban areas next to agricultural production areas were recognized as a challenge for effective control. In 2015, a SIT laboratory was established in Arica, Chile to evaluate its potential for urban control. Progress included the development and evaluation of artificial diets, a mass-rearing of 75,000 moths/week, confirmation of 150 Gy as an operational dose for inherited sterility, and releases of sterile moths in a 25 ha urban area next to fruit production areas. Season-long releases demonstrated that high overflooding ratios were achieved early in the season but decreased with a large increase in the wild moth population. Sterile moth quality was consistently high, and moths were observed living in the field up to 10 days and dispersing up to 800 m. Recommendations for further development of the SIT include conducting cage and field studies to evaluate overflooding ratios and mating competitiveness, measuring of infestation densities in release and no-release areas, and conducting trials to evaluate combining SIT with compatible integrated pest management (IPM) tactics such as fruit stripping and use of mating disruption.

1008More than 22 lepidopteran species have been investigated as candidates for control using the sterile insect technique (SIT) or inherited sterility (IS). However, to date only three programmes have been operationalized on a large-scale. The pink bollworm programme was successful at eradication across a broad swath of the cotton production area in south-western USA and northern Mexico by operating an area-wide control programme across this region using a combination of Bt-cotton, mating disruption, sanitation, and the SIT. The codling moth suppression programme in British Columbia, Canada, and the false codling moth in South Africa, have both been successful at effective suppression of the pest populations, reducing insecticide use, and improving interactions between growers and the general public. Other smaller-scale programmes against outbreaks of gypsy moth, cactus moth, and painted apple moth have also been successful, contributing to local eradications of invasive populations. New programmes are being investigated for managing a range of other target pests, including European grapevine moth in Chile, sugar cane borer in South Africa, tomato leafminer (for glasshouse populations in Europe), carob or date moth in North Africa, and naval orangeworm in California. Methods to further reduce the cost of lepidopteran programmes might include combining the SIT/IS with other environment-friendly pest control tactics such as mating disruption or the release of natural enemies, the development of genetic sexing strains, or the application of molecular technologies to develop genetic markers, genetic sexing, and genetic sterility. In the future, the greatest potential for impact of lepidopteran SIT/IS programmes may be in combating key invasive threats, with examples such as the eradication of an outbreak of the painted apple moth in New Zealand and the cactus moth in Mexico, or by adding an additional tool to pest control programmes where the use of insecticides may be limited by the development of resistance or the objection by residents in urban areas to ongoing treatments.

Biological invasions are most effectively managed when identified in their early stages, which often hinges on robust surveillance programs. The recent invasion of the European grapevine moth (Lobesia botrana) in California suggests that viticultural areas in the western United States may face severe economic consequences from this and other Tortricid and Pyralid moth species if they were to establish. To gain insights into the risk these grapevine pests pose, we used occurrence records for L. botrana and four other moths native to Europe or the eastern United States and selected environmental variables to predict the extent of climatically suitable areas and potential pest co-occurrence along the West Coast of the United States. A suite of models was generated using MaxEnt with species-specific tuning of model settings. Overall, the results confirmed high suitability for L. botrana to establish across much of the study region, driven largely by high monthly variability in precipitation and low elevation. Two species were predicted to have intermediate suitability to establish over the study region (i.e., grape tortrix moth, Argyrotaenia ljungiana; grape berry moth, Paralobesia viteana), while two others had low suitability (i.e., European grape berry moth, Eupoecilia ambiguella; Christmas berry webworm, Cryptoblabes gnidiella). The highest predicted potential for co-occurrence was between L. botrana and P. viteana, accounting for 19% of the total viticulture area, followed by L. botrana and A. ljungiana for 11% of the study area. These results may help with the optimization of surveillance efforts by indicating which species or areas should be prioritized for the deployment of invasive pest detection programs with pheromone traps. Indeed, given the apparent potential for co-occurrence of multiple moth pests in certain areas, our results may inform where single or multi-lure traps should be deployed as a more cost-efficient monitoring tool.

The Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), is a major pest of citrus due to its role as the vector of the bacterium that causes huanglongbing. In commercial citrus, ACP control currently relies on the application of insecticides, which may not be sustainable long-term, nor practical in urban areas. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is an alternative strategy in which large numbers of pests are reared, sterilized using radiation, and then released into the field to compete with wild individuals for matings, suppressing population growth. As a fundamental step toward the development of SIT for ACP, this study sought to identify the optimum radiation dose required to sterilize ACP without affecting their survival and mating capacity. Virgin adult ACP of both sexes were subjected to doses of X-ray irradiation ranging from 40 to 480 Gy, then paired with a nonirradiated mate and allowed to produce offspring. Fecundity was estimated as the number of eggs laid, and fertility as the proportion of those eggs that hatched. Females were more radio-sensitive than males, exhibiting a major drop in fecundity at even the lowest dose and 100% sterility at 80 Gy. In contrast, a fivefold higher dose (400 Gy) did not achieve complete sterility in males, with around 5% offspring survival. However, F₁ progeny of males exposed to 320 Gy or higher were subsequently found to be 100% sterile. This confirmation of inherited sterility suggests that balancing the sterilizing effects of radiation against its mortality-inducing effects may warrant further evaluation.