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Plant-Insect Ecosystems

Student Competition 10-Minute Paper

Grad P-IE: Biocontrol - Parasitoids

Augmentative biological control of squash bug using releases of egg parasitoid, Gryon pennsylvanicum

Monday, November 1, 2021
12:06 PM – 12:18 PM MT
Location: Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room 108-110
In-Person Student Competition

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Sean M. Boyle

    Post Doctoral Research Entomologist
    USDA-ARS
    Sykesville, Maryland

    • Co-Author(s)

  • DW

    Don C. Weber

    USDA-ARS
    Beltsville, Maryland

  • Thomas P. Kuhar

    Professor
    Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
    Blacksburg, Virginia

The squash bug, Anasa tristis (Hemiptera: Coreidae), is a serious pest of cucurbit crops across the US, especially within summer squash (Cucurbita pepo) systems.  Conventional growers commonly use broad spectrum insecticides to manage squash bugs, however, organic growers lack these effective chemical tools and must rely on alternative management strategies. Biological control of squash bug is largely understudied, specifically the potential of its formidable natural enemy, Gryon pennsylvanicum (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae), as an inoculative biocontrol agent. This parasitoid shows high parasitism rates of A. tristis egg masses, yet these rates vary throughout the growing season and across geographic areas. For this reason, we performed inoculative releases of G. pennsylvanicum on organic farms in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia to determine if locations with released wasps would result in increased parasitism of squash bug eggs.  Each release site was paired with a separate nearby non-release location where organic summer squash was also grown. Parasitoids were reared in the lab and deployed as parasitized egg masses at a rate of 2-3 females wasps per plant.  Following wasp deployment, biweekly collections of squash bug eggs were conducted at release and non-release sites. Initial results from year one of our study appear promising, as two release locations displayed parasitism rates of 64% and 84%, compared to rates of their paired non-release sites of 10% and 39%, respectively.  In year two, we added additional research locations to further evaluate G. pennyslvanicum
as an augmentative biological control agent for A. tristis.

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