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Bio Control Agents Available and some other Common Natural Enemies

Local natural enemies can contribute significantly to pest control. Their significance will vary from crop to crop and from season to season. More and more growers are now managing their crops with an eye to protecting and encouraging this valuable resource. New biological insecticides, pheromone mating disruption products and "soft" chemical insecticides have enabled a re-focussing of attention on the wealth of natural enemies ready and waiting to enter our crops. Monitoring for natural enemies as well as pests is the cornerstone of a biological control focused IPM program. The natural enemies listed below are found (to various degrees) in horticultural and agricultural crops in Australia. Some are commercially mass reared for introduction into crops.
Target Pest	Name of Biocontrol Agent	Occurrence
	PARASITOIDS
Moth eggs - heliothis	Telenomus spp.	Common in vegetables, field crops, fruit.
Moth eggs - heliothis, diamond back moth, loopers and others.	Trichogramma pretiosum (mass reared)	Common in vegetables, field crops, fruit.
Moth eggs - lightbrown apple moth, oriental fruit moth, codling moth.	Trichogramma carverae (mass reared)	Grapes and deciduous fruits
Macadamia Nut Borer Eggs	Trichogrammatoidea cryptophlebia (mass rearing under development)	Macadamias and lychees
Moth larvae, Helicoverpa spp., cabbage moth etc	Moth larval and pupal parasitoids eg. Microplitis spp, Cotesia spp.	Field and vegetable crops
Potato tuber moth larvae	Orgilus lepidus (not currently mass reared)	Potatoes and tomatoes
White fly	White fly parasitoid Encarsia formosa (mass reared)	Greenhouse veg and ornamentals
Aphids	Various Aphid parasitoids Aphidius spp.(mass reared)	Many crops
Armoured scales including red scale	Parasitoids Aphytis spp. (mass reared)	Citrus
Black scale	Metaphycus wasps (rearing under development)	Citrus, olives, grapes.
Green vegetable bug	Parasitoid wasp -Trissolcus spp. Parasitic fly -Trichopoda spp.	Field crops, vegetables
	PREDATORY MITES
Twospotted mite Tetranychus urticae	Predatory Mites (mass reared) Phytoseiulus persimilis	Ornamentals, strawberries, vegetables
Twospotted mite Tetranychus urticae	Predatory mite (mass reared) Typhlodromus occidentalis	Deciduous fruits, inland areas.
Fungus gnats	Hypoaspis spp (mass reared)	Nursery and cut flower crops
Thrips	Hypoaspis spp (mass reared) Montdorensis (rearing under development) Cucumeris	Nursery and cut flower crops
	PREDATORY BUGS
Moth eggs, small larvae	Damsel bugs- Nabis kinbergii (mass rearing under development)	field and vegetable crops
Moth eggs, aphids, very small larvae	Minute pirate bug- Orius spp.	field and vegetable crops
Caterpillars	Predatory shield bugs, various species	field and vegetable crops
Moth eggs, aphids, very small larvae	Big Eyed Bug Geocoris spp. and Germalus spp.	field and vegetable crops
	PREDATORY BEETLES
Aphid, mites, moth eggs	Lady beetle, Hippodamia (mass rearing under development) Ladybirds, various species	most crops
Mites	Minute ladybirds Stethorus spp.	field and vegetable crops
Mealy bug (various species) Soft scales	Mealy bug predator (mass reared) Cryptolaemus montrouzieri	greenhouse and field crops
Predator of white louse scale, oriental scale etc	Chilocorus beetles (mass reared)	citrus
	OTHER PREDATORS
Aphid and general predator	Green lacewings Mallada signata (mass reared)	various crops

Intro page • Bio Control Agents Available • Bio Control Agents by Target Pest • • Suppliers • IPM & Bio Control • Biocontrol News • Links

• Vegetables • Protected crops • Deciduous fruits & Strawbs • Field crops • Citrus/Tropical Fruits • Macadamia/lychee • Turf •