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Little information is available about the distribution and biology of Falconia poetica Distant, 1884 (Hemiptera: Miridae). A new distribution and the number of nymphal instars of the species are reported. On September 2018, nymphs and adults of an unknown species in the family Miridae were collected on castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) at Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. The specimens were identified as F. poetica. Using lengths of the forefemora and foretibiae and Discriminant Analysis, F. poetica was determined to have five nymphal instars. The study is the second record of F. poetica in Mexico and the first to report the mirid feeding on castor bean.

Larvae of fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), were collected from 190 fields of maize (Zea mays L.) in northern Sinaloa, Mexico, during 2016 and 2017. Larvae also were collected from naturally re-growing maize plants after the rainy season. The aim of this study was to determine the natural occurrence of parasitoids and entomopathogens of S. frugiperda in this agricultural area. Taxonomic keys were used to identify parasitoids. Larvae with signs of infection by viruses, bacteria or fungi were analyzed by one-step PCR. In 2016 and 2017, the average percentages of parasitized S. frugiperda larvae in cultured maize fields were 7 and 9.3%, respectively. In contrast, in re-grown maize, 12.5 and 16.5% of larvae were parasitized, respectively. In both years, significant differences were observed in abundance of parasitism among some months. The most common parasitoids were Meteorus laphygmae Viereck (n = 862), Chelonus insularis Cresson (n = 640), and Cotesia marginiventris Cresson (n = 303), with 9.5% of total parasitism. Idiopathic mortality (2.6%) was determined throughout the study, but no entomopathogens were found in any larva collected. Parasitoids associated with S. frugiperda are well established in northern Sinaloa. But, additional studies are needed to determine their potential as biological control agents and to evaluate the possible influence of maize type on their abundance.

The blackberry, Rubus sp., crop in the state of Michoacan, Mexico is the second-most important crop after avocado, Persea americana Mill., in relation to value of production and employment. In this study was identified a blackberry leafroller, its parasitoids, and population dynamics in two commercial orchards at Michoacan, Mexico, during the growing seasons of 2007 and 2008. Collected rolled leaves containing larvae and pupae where maintained in a laboratory until leafroller adults and their parasitoids emerged. Population dynamics of moths were determined using wing traps containing the sex pheromone of Argyrotaenia citrana (Fernald) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Numbers of males caught peaked in September and November 2007 at the two locations. After these months, numbers gradually decreased to almost zero during the dry season in 2008. Moths that emerged were identified as Argyrotaenia montezumae (Walsingham) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Of the A. montezumae larvae collected in the field, 38% w...

Entomopatogenic fungi are a promising alternative for the control of agricultural pests. We evaluated the pathogenicity of three isolates of Paecilomyces fumosoroseus (Wize) Brown and Smith (Pf1, Pf2, and Pf3) and six isolates of Lecanicillium (= Verticillium) lecanii (Zimmermann) Zare and Gams (VI1, VI2, VI3, VI4, VI5, and VI10) on eggs, second, third, and fourth nymphal instars of the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood). Three of the nine isolates (Pf1, VI3, and VI5) produced 11–26% infections of eggs, while the remaining isolates had no significant effect (Pf3 and VI10) or were unable (Pf2, VI1, VI2, and VI4) to infect this developmental stage. Pf1, Pf2, and Pf3 caused homogeneous pathogenicity in all nymphal instars tested, while L. lecanii isolates showed high variability. Pf1, Pf2, and Pf3 were usually the most pathogenic, but their activity correlated inversely with increasing nymphal instars. The pathogenicity (number of living nymphs recovered from treated plots) of Pf2 on T...