Annual Report: Cactus moth. Part 12.

VARONE, LAURA; FALTLHAUSER, ANA; LOGARZO, GUILLERMO; GUALA, MARIEL

2017-07-01/2018-06-30

69-77

Biológica

Sanidad vegetal-Plagas

Control tactics against the cactus moth, C. cactorum, are being developed to mitigate itsexpansion in the United States and invasion of Mexico. This report describes fieldpopulation dynamics of the parasitoid Apanteles opuntiarum, a potential biological controlagent, based on life table experiments from 2009, and recent field experiments. It alsoreports the preliminary evaluation of Goniozus legneri as a biological control agent of C.cactorum through the estimation of parasitism rates, and feeding decrement rates of thecactus moth larvae caused by paralysis and host feeding. Finally, the effect of C. cactorumon fruit production of O. ficus-indica was estimated at a plantation where the cactus mothnaturally occurred with a frequency of three generations per year.