m. fallahzadeh

Braconid wasps (Braconidae) are one of the most important pest parasitoids. The function of parasitoids can be affected by the use of insecticides. In order to use biological control agents and pesticides simultaneously in pest management, it is necessary to know the effect of pesticides on biological control agents. In this study, the lethal and sub lethal effects of the flubendiamide, emamectin benzoate+lufenuron, thiocyclam and spinosad on the parasitoid Habrobracon hebetor</em> (Say) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) were investigated. The LC50</sub> of spinosad on parasitoid wasps were 1.25 mg/L of active ingredient, which showed that this insecticide is the most toxic compound on this insect and LC50</sub> of thiocyclam, emamectin benzoate+lufenuron and flubendiamide were 19.99, 7.56 and 6.45 mg/L of active ingredient respectively, which were more toxic to this wasp, respectively. The results of bioassays on adult insects of parasitoid wasps showed that spinosad with LC30</sub> was 0.71 mg /L of active ingredient with high toxicity on adult insects compared to flubendiamide, emamectin benzoate+lufenuron and thiocyclam, which were LC30</sub>, 3.67, 4.26 and 14.44 respectively. According to the classification of the International Organization for Biological Control, spinosad was in the group of harmful insecticides and emamtectin benzoate + lufenuron and flubendiamide were in the group of moderately harmful insecticides. According to this classification, thiocyclam was classified as harmless insecticide on bracon wasp.

Family Anthocoridae, are as biological control agents in many agroecosystems. The seasonal abundance and distribution of Orius species were determined from different crops, trees, flowers and weeds in Fars province during 2016-2018. In this study Orius  albidipennis (Reuter), Orius laticollis discolor (Reuter), Orius laticollis laticollis (Reuter), Orius  horvathi (Reuter), Orius  minutus (Linnaeus), Orius vicinus (Ribaut), Orius  retamae Noualhier, Orius laevigatus inaequalis*Wagner, Orius laevigatus laevigatus (Fieber), Orius laevigatus maderensis* (Reuter), Orius niger aegyptiacus Wagner, Orius niger niger (Wolff), Orius  piceicollis* (Lindberg) were collected on different 63 host plants from 50 regions in Fars province. Among them the species and subspecies marked with * were new records for Iran. The Simpson diversity indices of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter seasons were 3.954, 4.082, 3,793 and 1 respectively. Seasonal diversity of Orius spp. In Summer were significantly higher than other seasons. O. niger niger was found to be active throughout the year. The other species of Orius were collected in spring, summer and autumn, O. piceicollis, O. retamae and O. laevigatus inaequalis were only active in summer. O. niger niger and O. albidipennis were the most collected Anthocorid species. From results it is concluded that O. niger niger and O. albidipennis are well adapted to the geographical conditions and plant biodiversity in Fars province. Therefore, they could be considered as biological control agents in fields.

Augmentative release of native natural enemies is a prominent strategy for suppression of crop pests. Intrinsic differences among populations of natural enemies may affect their efficiency in pest management programs. We characterized life history traits of 13 climatically and geographically isolated populations of Habrobracon hebetor Say (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from different regions of Iran to assess their suitability for biological control of noctuid moths. All experiments were performed at 25±1°C, 65±5 RH and 16:8 (L:D) hours photoperiod regime. Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) was used as a laboratory host. Our results revealed significant variation in female longevity, paralysis and parasitism rate, sex ratio, reproductive rate and host allocation among different H. hebetor populations tested. The highest number of offspring (124.2) and parasitized larvae (160.1) were observed in Bandar Lengeh and the lowest ones was observed in Urmia and Jiroft, respectively (3.4 and 9.3 for Urmia and 3.1 and 10.1 for Jiroft). Also, the wasps of Bandar Lengeh paralyzed more than 95% of the introduced host larvae. The longest female longevity and male production (21.3 days and 80.1, respectively) were in Bandar Abbas and Bandar Lengeh (21.3 days and 80, respectively), while the lowest ones were in Dehloran (12.9 days and 40.2, respectively). Gorgan population deployed the highest number of Ephestia kuehniella larvae in foraging behavior test. These results show considerable variation in the life history traits of various populations of H. hebetor, which may affect performance of these populations under field condition.

The flower bugs genus Orius Wolff, 1811 (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) in Fars province is reviewd. These insects are useful and important as natural members of the predatory fauna and as biological control agents in many agroecosystems. The Orius specimens were collected from different regions of Fars province (southern Iran) during 2016-2019, and put in alcohol 75% mix of Glycerin 5%.  Then males' genitalia and females' copulatory tubes were mounted on slides by Hoyer’s medium to examine and illustrate the detailed characters. In this research Eight species are recognised, one of them Orius piceicollis (Linberg,1936)and subspecies Orius laevigatus maderensis (Reuter,1884)are new records for Iran. Diagnoses, habitus and DIC images of species including both male and female genitalia are provided. However identifying these insects has been based on identifying the male’s genitalia, but    upon the results of this investigation, female copulatory tubes, along with a male paramer characters can be used as a reliable character for identification of genus Orius species.