Biological Control of the Leafhopper Dalbulus maidis in Corn Throughout the Americas: Interaction Among Phytoplasma- Insect Vector- Parasitoids

Abstract

Little is known about the biological control of insect pests that transmit plant pathogenic bacteria such as phytoplasmas. This chapter is a review of the status of the biological control of the corn leafhopper Dalbulus maidis DeLong (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), an efficient vector of maize (Zea mays ssp. mays L., Poaceae) pathogens in the Neotropic region. The chapter reviews the biodiversity of parasitoids that attack the corn leafhopper in the Americas and relates the efforts conducted to understand the interactions among D. maidis-phytoplasmas-parasitoids-environment. Nymphs and adults of the corn leafhopper are parasitized by hymenopteran, dipteran, and strepsipteran species, with Gonatopus bartletti