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Mites exploit various symbiotic associations with insects and other arthropods, mainly parasitism and phoresy. Faunistic information of parasitic and phoretic mites on insects in Egypt is reviewed. Previous published records are gathered and, in some cases, altered. This paper presents an annotated list of the 120 species, including unidentified spp., of mites extracted from insects in Egypt to date. Mite species belong to 42 families [16 of Mesostigmata, 19 of Prostigmata, five of Astigmata and two in Cryptostigmata (Oribatida)]. Information about insect hosts, attachment sites and geographic distribution is provided.

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The life table parameters of the parasitoid wasp, Aenasius bambawalei Hayat (Hym.: Encyrtidae) were studied at 25, 30, and 35 °C, 65 ± 5% R. H. and 14L: 10D h. Third instar nymphs of Pseudococcus solenopsis Tinesly (Hem.: Pseudococcidae) were used as host for the wasp. Adult longevity and preoviposition period of female wasps were assessed and the raw data were analyzed using the age-stage, two-sex life table. According to the results, the total preovipostion period of females was 17 days at 25 °C and decreased to 13.07 days at 35 °C. The highest and lowest longevity was recorded for females at 25 °C (40.12 days) and males at 35 °C (3.71 days), respectively. The intrinsic rates of increase (r) of A. bambawalei were 0.1192, 0.1599, 0.2142 d^-1 at 25, 30 and 35 °C, respectively. The net reproductive rate (R₀) was calculated to be 38.04, 55.30, and 81.22 eggs/individual at 25, 30 and 35 °C, respectively. The mean generation time (T) of A. bambawalei ranged from 20.52 days at 35 °C to 30.52 days at 25 °C. Our results suggested that A. bambawalei may be a more efficient biological control agent for P. solenopsis at 35 °C than at 25 and 30 °C.

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Integrated application of compatible methods is the most reliable strategy for sustainable management of phytophagous pests in different agroecosystems. In the current study, parasitism parameters of Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko were determined on eggs of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) reared on a susceptible "Infinity" and a resistant "Goldy" tomato cultivar. All experiments were carried out under laboratory conditions at 25 ± 1 ^°C, 65 ± 5% RH, and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) h. Our results showed that the maximum number of parasitized hosts per parasitoid was 25.94 and 23 eggs in "Goldy" and "Infinity" cultivars, respectively. The cultivars tested had no significant effects on the net parasitism rate (C₀), and the values of this parameter were 7.87 and 6.67 hosts on the mentioned cultivars, respectively. Similarly, the cultivar impact on the finite (ω ) and stable parasitism rates (ψ ) of T. brassicae was not significant. The parasitoid needed approximately one egg host to produce an egg on both cultivars for the simple reason that this parasitoid nearly always lays one egg in each host. In other words, the transformation rate (Q_p) of the parasitoid on the "Goldy" did not differ from that estimated on the "Infinity". Our findings revealed that the resistant tomato cultivar, "Goldy", did not compromise T. brassicae-based biocontrol of T. absoluta. Therefore, these two control procedures could be combined for the integrated management of this pest.

 

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The parasitoid Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko is used for inundative releases in biological control programs against lepidopteran pests in agro-ecosystems. Age-specific functional responses of T. brassicae to different egg densities (5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, and 80) of sterilized eggs of Ephestia kuehniella at 23±1°C, 60±5% RH, and 16:8 h (L:D photoperiod ) were studied. E. kuehniella densities were separately presented to a single mated female of T. brassicae (1-day-old). The egg densities were replaced every day until the parasitoid died and each density was replicated 20 times. A type III functional response was obtained for the one-day-old females and a type II for two- to nine-day-old ones. Results show that parasitoid age influences searching efficiency and handling time. Searching efficiency (a´) varied as adult parasitoids aged. In contrast, handling time increased with age. The lowest and highest values were obtained in days 1 and 9 of the parasitoid's life, respectively. The maximum rate of parasitism (T/T_h) decreased significantly with an increase in parasitoid age. It was concluded that T. brassicae females were most efficient at early ages of their life and might be capable of efficiently suppressing lepidopteran pest populations.

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The aim of present study was to investigate the effect of individual and co-inoculation of Trichoderma species and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on growth, mycorrhization, population of Trichoderma, and wilt disease severity in pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan L Millsp). Three species of Trichoderma, namely, T. harzianum (Th), T. virens (Tr), and T. viride (Tv) and consortium of AMF (Myc; mixture of Funneliformis mosseae, Glomus cerebriforme, Rhizophagus irregularis) individually (Th, Tr, Tv and Myc) and in different combinations (Th+Myc,Tr+Myc and Tv+Myc) were tested. Among all the treatments, co-inoculation of Th and Myc gave highest growth and reduced severity of wilt disease of pigeon pea significantly (P< 0.05). Mycalone was sufficient for growth promotion but it was effective in terms of disease suppression when inoculated before pathogen. Fusarium reduced the shoot length, dry weight, phosphorus (P) uptake of plants, AMF colonization, spore density, and population of Trichoderma. Results clearly showed that different species of Trichoderma produced varied results with Myc.

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Plant quality in herbivores’ diet may affect the performance of both herbivore and its parasitoids. In the present research, parasitism capacity of Diadegma semiclausum (Hellen) on Plutella xylostella (L.) reared on different genetically manipulated Brassica plants including the canola’s progenitor (Brassica rapa L.), two cultivated canola cultivars (Cultivar-Opera and Cultivar-RGS₀₀₃), one hybrid (Hybrid-Hyula₄₀₁), one gamma mutated (Mutant-RGS₀₀₃), and one transgenic (Transgenic-PF) genotype was determined. All experiments were carried out in a growth chamber at 25±1˚C, 65±5% RH, and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L: D) hour. The value of the net parasitism rate (C₀) of D. semiclausum was 14.94, 20.12, 14.95, 12.20, 13.94, and 12.55 hosts on B. rapa, Cultivar-Opera, Cultivar-RGS₀₀₃, Hybrid-Hyula₄₀₁, Mutant-RGS₀₀₃, and Transgenic-PF, respectively. The transformation rate from host population to parasitoid offspring (Q_p) on all genotypes was close to 1 (C₀ R₀). Moreover, the value of the finite parasitism rate  was 0.271, 0.285, 0.277, 0.202, 0.205, and 0.202 host parasitoid^-1 day^-1 on the above-mentioned genotypes, respectively. The finite parasitism rate considers the finite rate of increase, the stable age-stage distribution, and the age-stage specific parasitism rate; therefore, this parameter could be used to assess the efficiency of a parasitoid. In conclusion, D. semiclausum had higher parasitism capacity on canola’s progenitor and the cultivated genotypes which were more suitable for parasitoid’s host based on secondary metabolites concentration.

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Selected pesticides widely used worldwide to control key pests on cotton plants were evaluated for integration with the Trichogramma chilonis (Ishii). Chlorantraniliprole showed a mean emergence of approximately 79˗˗82 and 87˗˗91% at both 6.25x and 9.4x doses when host eggs (Sitotroga cerealella Olivier) were treated at larval and pupal stage of parasitoids, respectively. Helicoverpa armigera NucleoPolyhedroses Virus (HaNPV) revealed mean emergence ranging from 80 to 84% at both 12.5x and 6.25x doses in the pupal stage treatment. Spiromesifen demonstrated mean emergence approximately ranging from 82.35 to 88.55% at 5x, x, and 0.5x doses in both the egg and pupal stage treatments, and in addition at 8.3X dose in the pupal stage treatment. Spiromesifen led to mean emergence of 88.20 and 79.52% at 2x and 5x doses, respectively, when parasitoid was treated at larval stage. When individual T. chilonis females were exposed to the previously treated host eggs (S. cerealella), chlorantraniliprole resulted in mean parasitism ranging from 17.88 to 20.88 parasitized host eggs at both 5x and 3.13x doses, while spiromesifen led to mean parasitism of 7.20 parasitized host eggs at 10.4x dose and showed significant effect on parasitism by parasitoid. The results indicated that the pesticides tested against emergence exhibited no significant toxic effects on the parasitoid.