Hadronotus pennsylvanicus (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae): a biological control agent for pestiferous leaffooted bugs (Hemiptera: Coreidae)

Abstract

Abstract In recent decades, the egg parasitoid Hadronotus pennsylvanicus (Ashmead) has gained substantial attention as an important natural enemy of pestiferous leaffooted bug species in the genera Anasa Amyot and Serville and Leptoglossus Guérin-Méneville. Throughout its native range of North America, H. pennsylvanicus parasitizes Anasa and Leptoglossus eggs in various vegetable and orchard systems. The overreliance on broad-spectrum insecticides in these systems and the demand for effective and sustainable coreid pest management strategies have motivated researchers to consider H. pennsylvanicus as an augmentative biological control agent. The potential use of H. pennsylvanicus as a classical biological control agent has also been studied in Europe in response to the rapid spread of Leptoglossus occidentalis Heidemann, an invasive pest causing significant economic losses to the European pine nut industry. Improved understanding of H. pennsylvanicus taxonomy, life history, host range, parasitoid–host ecology, laboratory rearing, and field deployment techniques have created a robust scaffold on which to build future biological control programs. This natural enemy profile reviews the current advances in the aforementioned areas of H. pennsylvanicus research and outlines the parasitoid’s prospects as a biological control agent.