The biological consequences of mating interactions between indigenous and exotic biotypes of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) in Australia were studied using a combination of field and laboratory experiments. The key results of the interaction between the B and eastern Australian biotypes were reduced population increase, a marked increase in the proportion of male progeny, fewer eggs produced by females paired with males of different biotype and no difference in the numbers of eggs per unmated female and females paired with males of the same biotype. In addition, there was no change in the proportion of eggs hatching, mixed biotype pairs spent more time courting than single biotype pairs and a low level of hybridization in field cages and small containers was observed. These observations suggest three possibilities. The first is the ‘distracting male hypothesis’ in which mating pairs made up of different biotypes apportion more time to courtship and less time to egg laying than single biotype pairs. The second invokes the ‘single-locus complementary sex determination model’ in which the production of non-viable diploid male zygotes may explain the reduction in eggs laid. The third is cytoplasmic incompatibility between biotypes caused by Wolbachia. The results also suggest that the geographical distribution of clusters of related biotypes both overseas and in Australia may be explained by between-biotype interactions leading to the formation of parapatric populations.

Antibiosis and resistance of six Cucurbita and two Lagenaria accessions to the carmine spider mite, Tetranychus cinnabarinus Boisduval, were evaluated in the laboratory. Significant differences among accessions were observed three days after the inoculation of detached leaf discs. The Lagenaria accessions, Slawi and Sus, proved to be the most resistant to mites, with average populations of mite eggs, 87 and 95%, respectively less than that of the susceptible C. pepoaccession, Orangetti. The Cucurbita accessions, Tace, Brava, Tetsukabuto, Phoenix and TZ-148 had mite egg totals 4, 9, 13, 26 and 40%, respectively, less than those of accession Orangetti. The Sus accession of Lagenaria was resistant to T. cinnabarinus from the four-leaf stage until fruit set in laboratory and field tests. Grafting the susceptible Brava onto Sus rootstock increased the resistance of the scion to the same level as that of non-grafted Sus. Grafting the susceptible Cucumis melo Noy Yizre’el on resistant or susceptible rootstocks of Cucurbita and Lagenaria accessions did not affect its susceptibility to T. cinnabarinus. The results indicate that resistance to T. cinnabarinuscan be transferred by grafting from Lagenaria stocks to Cucurbita scions but not in the opposite direction.

The two alpha-cyano pyrethroid insecticides lambda-cyhalothrin and alpha-cypermethrin were tested as bednet treatments at a target dose of 20 mg m-2. To establish their efficacy, female pyrethroid resistant and susceptible Anopheles stephensi Liston, and the F1-hybrids were allowed to fly freely in a room with a human subject under an impregnated net. Both treatments provided good personal protection by significantly reducing the number of blood fed mosquitoes compared to an untreated control net. Mortality after 24 h was significantly higher for the alpha-cypermethrin treated net when compared to lambda-cyhalothrin. For each insecticide there were no significant differences in the proportion of susceptible homozygotes and F1-hybrids found dead after a 24 h holding period, which suggests that there would be no selection for pyrethroid resistant heterozygotes by either of the insecticides.

Experimental huts in Côte d’Ivoire were used to evaluate the pyrethroid alpha-cypermethrin, the non-ester pyrethroid etofenprox, the organophosphate pirimiphos-methyl and the carbamate carbosulfan on bednets against pyrethroid-resistant Anopheles gambiae Giles. To test for selection for the resistance gene by the treated nets, A. gambiae collected live or dead from the huts were kept and analysed for the presence of the kdr gene using a new polymerase chain reaction followed by sequence-specific oligonucleotide probing (PCR–SSOP) for kdr-genotyping. Deliberately holed bednets freshly treated with pirimiphos-methyl or carbosulfan caused over 90% kill of A. gambiae s.s. and Culex spp. However, the mortality with alpha-cypermethrin or etofenprox treated nets was similar to that with untreated nets. Bloodfeeding of A. gambiae s.s. on the sleepers under the nets was only significantly reduced by alpha-cypermethrin and carbosulfan. Tests of the residual activity of the bednets after seven months showed that pirimiphos-methyl had lost its efficacy while carbosulfan still performed well. Once again the pyrethroid treated nets gave similar results to the untreated nets. Selection for the kdr-allele by alpha-cypermethrin and etofenprox, but not by carbosulfan, was indicated by PCR–SSOP genotyping of mosquitoes. Thus carbamates such as carbosulfan, or organophosphates of longer persistence than pirimiphos-methyl and of low mammalian toxicity, would seem to be a promising alternative to be used on bednets, particularly in areas of pyrethroid resistance.

The use of long-term forecasts of pest pressure is central to better pest management. We relate the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) to long-term light-trap catches of the two key moth pests of Australian agriculture, Helicoverpa punctigera (Wallengren) and H. armigera (Hübner), at Narrabri, New South Wales over 11 years, and for H. punctigera only at Turretfield, South Australia over 22 years. At Narrabri, the size of the first spring generation of both species was significantly correlated with the SOI in certain months, sometimes up to 15 months before the date of trapping. Differences in the SOI and SST between significant months were used to build composite variables in multiple regressions which gave fitted values of the trap catches to less than 25% of the observed values. The regressions suggested that useful forecasts of both species could be made 6–15 months ahead. The influence of the two weather variables on trap catches of H. punctigera at Turretfield were not as strong as at Narrabri, probably because the SOI was not as strongly related to rainfall in southern Australia as it is in eastern Australia. The best fits were again given by multiple regressions with SOI plus SST variables, to within 40% of the observed values. The reliability of both variables as predictors of moth numbers may be limited by the lack of stability in the SOI-rainfall correlation over the historical record. As no other data set is available to test the regressions, they can only be tested by future use. The use of long-term forecasts in pest management is discussed, and preliminary analyses of other long sets of insect numbers suggest that the Southern Oscillation Index may be a useful predictor of insect numbers in other parts of the world.

Females of Callosobruchus spp. are known to produce sex pheromones that attract males. These sex pheromones cannot be adopted for use in pest management without first investigating the responses of the males in the windless conditions of storage environments. Consequently, behavioural bioassays of Callosobruchus subinnotatus Pic males were conducted in an olfactometer in the absence of air-flow. Under these conditions males were found to be able to follow odour trails to the source. However, the latency period was longer in diffusional bioassays than for insects in a Y-tube olfactometer that provided directional wind cues. The highest percentage of males reached the pheromone source when components of the pheromones, (E)-3-methyl-2-heptenoic acid (E32A) and (Z)-3-methyl-2-heptenoic acid (Z32A), were formulated in a 50:50 or 25:75 ratio. Males of C. maculatus (Fabricius) responded to sex pheromone of C. subinnotatus, but males of C. subinnotatus did not respond to that of C. maculatus. The two sex pheromone components of C. subinnotatus are also constituents of C. maculatus sex pheromone. These two components may be potentially useful in monitoring the populations of both species in stored beans. It is postulated that (Z)-3-methyl-3-heptenoic acid (Z33A), the major component of the sex pheromone of C. maculatus, must have acted as an antagonist inhibiting response of C. subinnotatus to the sex pheromone of C. maculatus.

The responses of Culex quinquefasciatus Say to traps baited with carbon dioxide, 1-octen-3-ol, acetone, butyric acid and human foot odour were studied in the field in Muheza, north-east Tanzania using Counterflow Geometry (CFG) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) traps. It was found that significantly more C. quinquefasciatusresponded to foot odour collected on nylon stockings than to clean nylon stockings (P < 0.05). Significantly more mosquitoes were caught in a CFG trap baited with carbon dioxide than in traps with either human foot odour, acetone or butyric acid. It was also found that in an outdoor situation a carbon dioxide baited CDC unlit trap collected over 12 times more C. quinquefasciatus than an unbaited CDC unlit trap and nine times more mosquitoes than CDC traps baited with 1-octen-3-ol alone (P < 0.05). The number of mosquitoes caught in a CDC trap baited with 1-octen-3-ol did not differ significantly from that of the unbaited CDC trap (P > 0.05). These results indicate that the Afrotropical C. quinquefasciatusrespond significantly better to traps baited with carbon dioxide than to either octenol, acetone or butyric acid, and that human foot odour contains stimuli to which C. quinquefasciatus is attracted under field conditions.

Two commercial cultivars of tomato, Alta and Peto 95, the accession line number LA716 of Lycopersicon pennellii and lines 94GH-006 and 94GH-033 (backcrosses between Peto 95 and LA716), with different leaf acyl sugar contents were screened for resistance to Bemisia argentifolii Bellows & Perring (corresponding to the Spanish B-biotype of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius)), in greenhouse- and field-no-choice experiments. There was no oviposition on LA716 (with the highest acyl sugar content) while the greatest fecundity and fertility values were observed on the cultivar Alta (no acyl sugar content). However, no clear relationship was found between the low acyl sugar content in the other tomato cultivars tested and whitefly reproduction. Thus, resistance to B. tabaci did not appear to correlate with acyl sugar content below a threshold level of 37.8 μg cm-2leaf. In a greenhouse choice-assay, B. tabaci exhibited reduced host preference and reproduction on the commercial tomato cultivars Motelle, VFN8 and Ronita all of which carry the Mi gene resistance to Meloidogyne nematodes and the aphid Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas), than on the Mi-lacking cultivars Moneymaker, Rio Fuego and Roma. When data of Mi-bearing plants were pooled, the mean values for daily infestation and pupal production of B. tabaci were significantly lower than those of Mi-lacking plants. This reflected a level of antixenosis- and antibiosis-based resistance in commercial tomato and indicated that Mi, or another closely linked gene, might be implicated in a partial resistance which was not associated either with the presence of glandular trichomes or their exudates. These findings support the general hypothesis for the existence of similarities among the resistance mechanisms to whiteflies, aphids and nematodes in commercial tomato plants.

Heather, Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull, is a serious invasive weed in the central North Island of New Zealand, especially in Tongariro National Park, a World Heritage Area. Heather beetle, Lochmaea suturalis (Thomson), is a foliage-feeding pest of Calluna in Europe, that was selected as the most promising biological control agent for introduction into New Zealand, because it causes high levels of damage to Calluna in Europe. Host-range tests indicated that L. suturalisposes a negligible threat to native New Zealand plants. Cultivars of Callunagrown as ornamentals are suitable food plants, but are unlikely to be severely affected because L. suturalis requires a damp understorey of moss or litter for successful oviposition and pupation, which is rarely present in gardens. However, mosses and litter occurring under Calluna stands in Tongariro National Park are suitable substrates for eggs and pupae. Lochmaea suturalis released in New Zealand has been freed of parasitoids and a microsporidian disease that attack the beetles in Europe.