Soybean production is usually performed on large scales, requiring simple but efficient pest management to be successful. Soybean fields are inhabited by several species of arthropods, demanding constant development of management practices to prevent pest outbreaks. More recently, stink bugs have become the most important pest group of soybeans in the Neotropics, responsible for up to 60% of the applied insecticides in Brazil. Natural enemies represent an important mortality factor that can keep the damage caused by stink bugs below the economic threshold levels without additional control actions. Thus, Conservation Biological Control (CBC) strategies can be adopted to preserve or even promote the increase in such natural enemies in the fields, or alternatively, massive releases of biocontrol agents in Augmentative Biological Control (ABC) programs could be adopted. Simple practices such as reducing insecticide use (with the adoption of economic thresholds), prioritizing harmless insecticides or biopesticides, and planting resistant soybean cultivars have been adopted in Brazil with positive results. The challenges to increasing the adoption of more complex stink bug management in commodity crops such as soybean may be overcome using the more recent economic incentives in the global agenda of decarbonized agriculture. The potential and challenges of conservation and augmentative biological control are further discussed in this review.

Parasitoid's performance is subject to parasitism decisions influenced by host quality and parasitoid's age. We evaluated parasitism, emergence, and

The use of egg parasitoids in Augmentative Biological Control (ABC) is a highly effective strategy within the integrated pest management (IPM) of lepidopteran defoliators. Safer than chemical insecticides, these natural antagonists have demonstrated significant efficacy. Trichogramma pretiosum and Telenomus remus, known for their high parasitism rates, are the most extensively used and studied parasitoids for controlling economically important lepidopterous in crops such as soybean and maize. Brazil, a leading adopter of crops expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) proteins, faces growing field-evolved resistance to Cry proteins in soybean and maize. This resistance, particularly of Rachiplusia nu in soybean and Spodoptera frugiperda in maize, has become more prominent in recent years, increasing insecticide use. Therefore, this article reviews the current status of egg parasitoids adoption in ABC against lepidopteran pests, emphasizing the role of Tr. pretiosum and the potential of Te. remus as sustainable alternatives to chemical insecticides to manage pests in both non-Bt and Bt crops. Additionally, we provide recommendations for using these parasitoids in ABC programs and discuss the challenges that must be addressed to optimize the adoption of biocontrol agents in ABC programs for maximum benefit.

Numerous studies conducted on a variety of temporal and spatial scales around the world show that dipteran parasitoids can exert effective control over some insect pests. This paper provides an overview of major examples of successful classical and augmentative biological control initiatives, organized by major dipteran families which include parasitoid species (i.e., Tachinidae, Phoridae, Sarcophagidae, Cryptochetidae, Bombyliidae, Syrphidae) and according to different global regions. In addition, examples of unsuccessful attempts at biological control using dipteran parasitoids are discussed, along with potential reasons for these failures. A notable drawback found during our literature review is that many parasitoids and host species are not correctly identified, and information on laboratory and field studies is rather scarce. Reproductive strategies of dipteran parasitoids and host-parasitoid associations need to be better investigated. Expanding the knowledge of these parasitoids is crucial for improving biocontrol strategies, especially against pests for which dipterans are key natural enemies.