Biological Control of <i>Diuraphis noxia</i> (Homoptera: Aphididae): Implementation and Evaluation of Natural Enemies

Abstract

<i>The authors provide a record of what was accomplished through the biological control component of a national program to develop management approaches for the Russian wheat aphid</i>, Diuraphis noxia <i>(Mordvilko). This summary identifies participants, reviews the implementation and evaluation activities for the multiagency program during 1987–1994, and it draws most heavily on records from the Russian Wheat Aphid Biological Control Project conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. We identified 125 participants, both foreign and in the United States, that conducted biological control activities. Program participants released &gt;15.5 million natural enemies of D. noxia during 1987–1994 and conducted recovery surveys in 16 states. To date, 4 exotic parasitoid species have established</i>—Aphidius uzbekistanicus <i>Luzhetzki</i>, Aphidius colemani <i>(Viereck)</i>, Aphelinus albipodus <i>Hayat and Fatima, and</i> Aphelinus asychis <i>Walker. The participants contributed to Russian wheat aphid management and uncovered areas for improving future biological control efforts through their activities in release, recovery, taxonomic identification, and program coordination.</i>