Biological Pest Management: Predators, Parasitoids, and Pathogens

Vocabulary practice cards covering biological control mechanisms, beneficial parasitoid families, entomopathogenic fungi, nematodes, and viral pathogens.

Parasitoids

A primary form of biological control consisting primarily of wasps and flies that do not kill the host immediately, are often highly specialized, and in which females are almost always more important.

Pathogens (Bio Control)

Microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and viruses that can be highly specialized and expensive, often classified by their entry mode: ingestion, insertion, dermal contact, or injury site.

Predators (Bio Control)

Organisms that serve as the fastest acting among the three primary forms of biological control.

Tachinid Flies

Beneficial flies whose larvae develop on and parasitize caterpillars, beetles, sawflies, true bugs, grasshoppers, and other pests.

Aphelinid Wasps

Solitary parasitic wasps that lay eggs in or on hosts; females are commonly parthenocarpic while males are rare. They prey upon aphids, mealybugs, scales, and whiteflies.

Encarsia Formosa

A species of solitary aphelinid wasp measuring $0.6\text{--}0.8\,\text{mm}$ that parasitizes whiteflies.

Aphidius colemani

A species of parasitic wasp measuring $2\text{--}5\,\text{mm}$ that attacks aphids, leaving swollen, papery aphid mummies on foliage.

Coccophagus lycimnia

An aphelinid wasp measuring $1\,\text{mm}$ used as a beneficial biological control agent.

Braconid Wasps

The second largest family in the order Hymenoptera; solitary wasps that are primarily internal parasites preying on aphids, beetle larvae, flies, caterpillars, tomato hornworms, cabbageworms, and gypsy moths.

Cotesia congregate

A braconid wasp measuring $2\text{--}3\,\text{mm}$ whose larvae develop internally within caterpillars and then emerge to spin conspicuous white cocoons on the host's surface.

Chalcid Wasps

Solitary, tiny wasps that act primarily as endoparasites of aphids, mealy bugs, whiteflies, leafhoppers, spiders, ticks, moths, butterflies, beetles, flies, and other wasps.

Dicopomorpha echmepterygis

A solitary chalcid wasp measuring only $.1\,\text{mm}$, representing one of the smallest known insects.

Brchymeria intermedia

A chalcid wasp measuring $3\text{--}6\,\text{mm}$ that functions as a parasitoid of pest pupae.

Ichneumon Wasps

Solitary wasps considered the largest family in the animal kingdom, with a wide range of sizes; they act as both ecto- and endoparasites targeting beetles, caterpillars, army worms, and web worms.

Scelionid Wasps

Solitary parasitic wasps that develop as 'eggs in eggs' parasites, targeting true bugs, some moths, and spiders.

Trissolcus japonicus

A scelionid wasp measuring $1\text{--}2\,\text{mm}$ that deposits its eggs directly inside the eggs of pest true bugs.

Trichogramma Wasps

Solitary 'eggs in eggs' parasitoids, such as Trichogramma platneri ($1\text{--}2\,\text{mm}$), that parasitize the eggs of moths and caterpillars.

Scoliid Wasps

Large, solitary wasps that specifically prey upon scarab beetle grubs.

Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis)

A bacterium that is one of the most widely used biological controls in agriculture and gardening.

B. subtilis (Bacillus subtilis)

A bacterium commonly used as a biological control to protect plants from fungal infections.

Entomopathogenic Fungi

Fungi that infect and kill insects, typically shipped as aerial conidia (spores) or blastospores (liquid culture).

Beauveria bassiana

An entomopathogenic fungus sold under commercial names such as Botanigard and Principle, used to control thrips, aphids, whiteflies, mealybugs, and scarab beetles.

Metarhizium anisopliae

An entomopathogenic fungus sold as Lalguard, Tick-Ex, and Meta-peak, used to control termites, root grubs, weevils, grasshoppers, thrips, aphids, whiteflies, and caterpillars.

Lecanicillium lecanii

An entomopathogenic fungus sold as Biosar, Verticim, and Verti-star, utilized to control aphids, thrips, mealybugs, scales, and some mites.

Isaria fumosorosea

An entomopathogenic fungus commercially available as Ancora, NoFly, and Isarid, used to manage aphids, thrips, spider mites, leafminers, and whiteflies.

Cordyceps Fungi

Entomopathogenic fungi known colloquially as 'zombie insect' fungi that take over host insect bodies and eventually sprout fruiting structures from the host carcass.

Beneficial Nematodes

Microscopic roundworms used for biological pest management, available primarily as three commercial strains selected according to target pest and soil type: Steinernema feltiae, Steinernema carpocapsae, and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora.

Heterorhabditis bacteriophora

A beneficial nematode that infects soil-dwelling white grubs, causing infected grubs to turn a distinctive reddish color.

Entomopathogenic Nematode Life Cycle

A biological process where nematodes enter a pest through natural openings, release symbiotic bacteria that paralyze and kill the host within days, reproduce while feeding on tissue, and emerge as a new generation to find new hosts.

Baculoviruses

The most widely used group of insect viruses in biological control, used against pests such as codling moths, armyworms, and cotton bollworms.

Iridoviridae Viruses

Invertebrate viruses that infect mosquitoes, blackflies, armyworms, rice stem borers, weevils, and scarab beetles, often causing a characteristic iridescent blue or violet coloration in diseased hosts.

Cryphonectria hypovirus

A fungal virus providing natural control for chestnut blight by transmitting hypovirulence, which converts virulent fungal infections into healed, non-lethal cankers.