Large scale mass rearing of natural enemies has been a mean of improving biological control in the sugarcane intensive agriculture. Among them, Cotesia flavipes, a gregarious koinobiont endoparasitoid, was imported by Brasil to control caterpillars of the sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis. The C. flavipes larval development depends on its association with polydnavirus, which blocks the host defense reaction. To verify if the oviposition sequence (1st, 2nd or 3rd) and the female condition (mated or virgin) interfere in the number of C. flavipes descendents, 4th instar caterpillars of D. saccharalis were parasitized. Analysis of the data showed that: a) there is an inverse correlation between the parasitism efficiency and the host reaction (encapsulation); b) the number of caterpillars parasitized by virgin females that released parasitoid larvae in the period from 12 to 15 days was higher than that of caterpillars parasitized by mated females; c) a slight difference between mated and virgin females in relation to the parasitim success was observed; and d) the number of encapsulated parasitoid larvae was higher than that of eggs, suggesting that eggs have a better capacity to overcome the host reaction. In this study, the viability of C. flavipes eggs and larvae in the non-specific host D. saccharalis could be correlated with the oviposition sequence and the female condition.

This study was undertaken to develop an experimental protocol using insects as biological models to assay venom toxicity of the following spiders Loxosceles gaucho, Phoneutria nigriventer, Nephilengys cruentata and Tityus serrulatus scorpion. Three different insect species were bioassayed: Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera), Grillus assimilis (Orthoptera), and Diatraea saccharalis (Lepidoptera). Venoms were injected into the hemocele of insects with a microsyringe at concentrations that caused dose/weight-dependent effects; doses causing either paralysis (ED50) or death (LD50) were recorded for each venom and insect test-species. T. serrulatus and L. gaucho venoms were lethal to all tested species, while P. nigriventer venom caused paralysis and death, and N. cruentata venom caused only paralysis at the doses assayed. A comparison between the insect test species described above revealed that A. mellifera was highly sensitive to all venoms tested; even a tiny amount of N. cruentata non-lethal venom caused a change in the walking pattern leading to transient paralysis. D. saccharalis larvae were very resistant to all four venoms.

Cotesia glomerata is a natural enemy of the vegetable plague Ascia monuste orseis and preferably parasites 2nd, 3rd and 4th instar larvae. Parasitism effects on the haemolymph protein profile of Ascia monuste orseis larvae from the 2nd to 7th days were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively by SDS-PAGE and Coomassie-Blue binding methods. Quantitative analysis showed a progressive increase in the protein content of about 6.5 and 12.5 times in parasitized and non-parasitized larvae from the 2nd to 5th days, respectively. On the 6th day, a decrease in protein content was observed in both groups, although this decrease was significantly less than the control group that continued to metamorphosis. Meanwhile, parasitized larvae had one more day (7th day) in their larval period to complete parasitoid development, justified by the fact that parasitoid is koinobiont and allows host feeding. On this day, a drastic increase in protein content was detected when the parasitoids left the host. The SDS-PAGE showed proteins of high molecular weight (>120 kDa) on the 5th day of the non-parasitized larvae when they entered pre-pupa stage and on the 7th day of parasitized larvae. Proteins with MW lower than 62 kDa and higher than 27 kDa were absent on the 5th day in control larvae (pre-pupa phase), but present in parasitized larvae. This could indicate a possible relation between these proteins and the host juvenile hormone. Therefore, the presence of C. glomerata influences Ascia monuste orseis development, but its own physiological development is apparently independent of the host, which tends to die when parasitism succeeds.

Field bioassays were used to demonstrate that aggressive behavior of Polybia paulista (Ihering) workers is elicited by alarm pheromones present in the venom reservoirs of nest defenders and that the brood care pheromone (pupal odor) produced by the young inside the nest also plays an important defensive role. Pupal odor was extracted from the surface of pupa bodies with methanol. When bioassayed alone, the pupal odor elicited only attractiveness of workers towards the odor source, but no stinging attacks were observed. However, in the presence of alarm pheromones, the brood care pheromone potentiated the effect caused by the pupal odors, increasing the number of stinging attacks during an action of colony defense. Thus, the presence of pupae within the nest evidently not only releases brood care but also enhances the aggressiveness of workers in P. paulista colonies.

The present paper aimed at testing the action of non-lyophilized venom of Africanized bees Apis mellifera through topical applications on Diatraea saccharalis egg masses. The CL50, DL50 and the most susceptible age of eggs to the venom topic application were also determined. Three-day-old eggs were the most susceptible to the venom action with CL50 equal to 8.6 mg/ml and DL50 equal to 0.173 mg/mass. The venom loses its action after being stored for 15 days.

The profiles of high-performance gel filtration of venoms from Polybia paulista, Polybia ignobilis and Polybia occidentalis occidentalis showed 13 peaks distributed among the three species. These profiles presented similarities that permitted the chromatographic characterization of the genus Polybia and differences that permitted the identification of each species studied. Thus, the comparative analysis of chromatographic profiles of high-performance gel filtration of venoms may be used as an auxiliary tool in taxonomic studies of Polybia wasps.

The presence of a polydnavirus in the ovary of the microhymenoptera Apanteles galleriae was detected. This wasp parasites the larvae of the wax moth Galleria mellonella. To study the possible viral effects on the total protein of G.mellonella, hemolymph extracts of the ovary calyxes of parasitized A. galleriae were injected into 6th and 7th instar cells of G.mellonella larvae. Protein profiles on polyacrilamide gel electrophoresis containing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS-PAGE) of host cell extracts showed a suppression of several protein bands when infection occurred in the 6th instar. However, in the 7th instar, parasitism caused an amplification in the synthesis of most proteins with some changes in the electrophoretic profile.