Species Richness and Abundance of Hymenopterous Parasitoids of the Family of Braconidae (Subfamily Aphidiinae) Within A barley Agro-ecosystem in Hail Region, Saudi Arabia. | ||||
| Egyptian Academic Journal of Biological Sciences. A, Entomology | ||||
| Article 9, Volume 8, Issue 2, October 2015, Page 83-90 PDF (301.29 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/eajbsa.2015.12906 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Author | ||||
| Khalid A. Asiry | ||||
| Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Hail, Saudi Arabia. | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Subfamily Aphidiinae has diverse parasitoid species that are known as solitary endoparasitoids of aphid pests with a comprehensive distribution. Thus, the present study was conducted as a preliminary study to investigate the species richness and abundance of the family of Braconidae (Subfamily Aphidiinae) within a commercial barley crop between February and April 2013 in Hail region, northern Saudi Arabia. Results showed that five species of Aphidiinae were captured within the barley agroecosystem in this region. These included the following: Lysiphlebus fabarum (Marshal, 1896), Binodoxys angelicae (Haliday, 1833), Ephedrus persicae (Froggatt, 1904), Aphidius colemani (Viereck, 1912) and Pauesia sp. However, L. fabarum was found to be the dominant species (67.70%) in the abundance compared to the other species, whereas Pauesia sp. was found to be a much rarer species (3.23%) in the barley agroecosystem. Moreover, the results revealed a higher weekly variation in the abundances of the collected Braconid species during the cropping season of barley. The higher abundance of some of the Braconid species in this study could be attributed to the presence of uncultivated crops (weeds) which provide suitable conditions for increasing the abundance of the Braconid species. On the whole, this study suggests that more survey studies for investigating the Hymenopterous parasitoids in many ecosystems in Hail region are required for the successful implementation of biological control program in this region. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Hymenopterous parasitoids; biological control; Braconidae; Aphidiinae; Lysiphlebus fabarum; Barley crop | ||||
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