Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T21:30:32.836Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Using Microscopy to Assess Chorion Structural Integrity and Parasitoid Oviposition Sites on Stink Bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) Eggs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2010

A.L. Koppel*
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech, 216A Price Hall, MC 0319, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
D.A. Herbert Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech Tidewater Agricultural Research and Extension Center, 6321 Holland Road, Suffolk, VA 23437, USA
E.W. Westbrook
Affiliation:
Electron Microscopy Laboratories, Agricultural Research Station, Virginia State University, Petersburg, VA 23806, USA
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: akoppel@vt.edu
Get access

Abstract

Previous efficacy studies found that many insecticides used by growers could be having an adverse effect on egg parasitoids (Telenomus podisi) developing in the eggs of the brown stink bug (Euschistus servus), while unhatched stink bugs experienced lower levels of mortality. One plausible explanation for this was that insecticides might enter parasitized eggs more readily via oviposition wounds. Parasitized E. servus eggs, as well as nonparasitized stink bug (Acrosternum hilare, E. servus, Murgantia histrionica, and Podisus maculiventris) eggs, were examined using electron microscopy. Egg response to perforation by a tungsten probe served as a control. Microscopy images depicted the chorion surface as characterized by a matrix of ridges and micropylar processes in a ring around the margin of the operculum. Observations of oviposition sites showed a “scab” formed where the ovipositor penetrated the chorion, and at sites penetrated by the probe. These formations appeared to be the result of fluids from inside the egg leaking out, drying, and hardening after oviposition or probe perforation, suggesting that the response was not due to substances secreted by the parasitoid. Further, no open wounds or holes were seen to increase the possibility of insecticides entering parasitized eggs.

Type
Biological Applications
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Research was performed at the Virginia Tech Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science and the Virginia State University Electron Microscopy Laboratory.

References

REFERENCES

Beament, J.W.L. (1948). The penetration of insect egg-shells. I.—Penetration of the chorion of Rhodnius prolixus, Stål. Bull Ent Res 39, 359383.Google Scholar
Beament, J.W.L. (1952). The role of cuticle and egg-shell membranes in the penetration of insecticides. Ann Appl Biol 39, 142143.Google Scholar
Bundy, C.S. & McPherson, R.M. (2000). Morphological examination of stink bug (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) eggs on cotton and soybeans, with a key to genera. Ann Entomol Soc Am 93, 616624.Google Scholar
Croft, B.A. & Brown, A.W.A. (1975). Responses of arthropod natural enemies to insecticides. Ann Rev Entomol 20, 285335.Google Scholar
Esselbaugh, C.O. (1946). A study of the eggs of the Pentatomidae (Hemiptera). Ann Entomol Soc Am 39, 667691.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, N.F. (1984). Systematics of Nearctic Telenomus: Classification and revisions of the podisi and phymatae species groups (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae). Bull Ohio Biol Surv (New Series), 6, 1113.Google Scholar
Koppel, A.L., Herbert, D.A. Jr., Kuhar, T.P. & Kamminga, K. (2009). Survey of stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) egg parasitoids in wheat, soybean and vegetable crops in Southeast Virginia. Environ Entomol 38, 375379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McPherson, J.E. & McPherson, R. (2000). Stink Bugs of Economic Importance in North America & Mexico, pp. 104–115 and 132–139. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press LLC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nation, J.L. (2002). Insect Physiology and Biochemistry, p. 140. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press LLC.Google Scholar