Parasitoid wasps lay their eggs in or on their victims and are therefore a formidable enemy of aphids and greenhouse whitefly, among others.
- Biological Pesticide
Parasitoid wasps are not very similar to the common yellow-brown wasps. Parasitoid wasps are small, slender wasps with a remarkably thin waist. Parasitoid wasps lay their eggs in or on their victims and are therefore a formidable enemy of aphids, caterpillars, butterfly pupae and some flies, such as the greenhouse whitefly and some bugs, such as the Mirid bug.
In agriculture, strips of annual flowers are often planted along fields to attract Parasitoid wasps, which in adjacent fields rid the crops of aphids, for example.
For control of whitefly (greenhouse whitefly, silverleaf whitefly) in greenhouse cultivation, Parasitoid wasp-based products are commercially available. Mostly, the products consist of cardboard strips with cards containing pupae of the white fly containing eggs of the Parasitoid wasp (Encarsia Formosa). The eggs hatch and the parasitoid wasps swarm out.
Parasitoid wasps of the genus Peristenus are the natural enemies of Lygus pratensis.
