Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Name change for Hypoaspis miles

Time for yet another name change for one of the good guys. Hypoaspis miles, commonly called the soil dwelling mite, is now going to be called Stratiolaelaps scimitus. This mite is used for control of fungus gnats and western flower thrips. Photo from Syngenta Bioline


Where can you buy Stratiolaelaps scimitus (Hypoaspis miles) ? Syngenta Bioline, Applied Bionomics, BioBest, or Koppert.


Key to Adult females of Species of Stratiolaelaps (from Walter & Campbell 2002)

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Texas is looking into the beneficials that work at night...

Entomologist Bob Pfannenstiel and other ARS scientists down in Texas have been looking into beneficials that come out and feed at night. The have been doing this for 8 years now and have discovered many interesting things. Like the Asian cockroach, Blattella asahinai is a predatory on moth eggs. They also found nocturnal cursorial spiders to be moth egg predators as well. Learn more by reading the article on the ARS USDA website! Working After Hours A Nighttime View of Insect Predation