Last year, the focus of the Insect of the Week was crop pests. This year, we’re changing things up and highlighting the many natural enemies that help you out, silently and efficiently killing off crop pests. [note: featured Insects of the Week in 2015 are available on the Insect of the Week page]
This week’s Insect of the Week is Cotesia marginiventris (sorry, no common name), a braconidid wasp parasitoid. Female C. marginiventris lay their eggs in the larvae of cabbage looper, black cutworm, corn earworm, variegated cutworm, armyworm and fall armyworm.
For more information about C. marginiventris, the pests it controls and other important crop and forage insects, see the new Field Crop and Forage Pests and their Natural Enemies in Western Canada - Identification and Management Field Guide for identification, life cycle and conservation options (download links for field guide available on the Insect of the Week page).
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| Cotesia marginiventris parasitoidizing beet armyworm larva. Photo cc-by-nc Debbie Waters, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org |