Rendon likened the whole complex to Russian nesting dolls. They lay their eggs inside of trechnites larvae developing inside psylla nymphs. She answered most of those questions, and more.īack to those hyperparasites, or parasites within parasites her team found at least two species - a figitid wasp and a pteromalid wasp - commonly emerging from psylla mummies, or parasitized nymphs.īut those species don’t attack psylla, according to previous literature. Her one-year study was funded by a $31,000 grant from the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission. Rendon and her colleagues started with four relatively narrow objectives regarding the trechnites: determine their seasonal phenology, determine which plants they visit, study how much they parasitize and compare the effects of common insecticides. Rendon uses a beat tray to search for insects while Boyer takes vegetative samples. “This has been probably the most fun project I’ve done,” Rendon said. They also came across evidence that the trechnites may scare away psylla simply by being present in the orchards. The prevalence of the hyperparasites, which parasitize other parasites, were among a few surprise findings for Rendon and her colleagues during their yearlong study of the ecology of trechnites, a parasitoid wasp that lays its eggs in psylla nymphs. “The plot now thickens because the enemy of the enemy of your enemy is your enemy,” said Dalila Rendon, an Oregon State University entomologist studying several aspects of Trechnites insidiosus, a beneficial insect, usually called trechnites, that growers hope could become part of IPM strategies to control pear psylla, a pest that grows more troublesome each year. Turns out, there are hyperparasitic wasps attacking the trechnites, a parasitic wasp lauded for killing the dreaded pear psylla. The enemy of your enemy may be your friend, but what about all the other layers of enemies? Oregon State University entomologist Dalila Rendon searches for trechnites and pear psylla mummies - psylla that have been parasitized by the beneficial wasps - in pear orchards in May 2018 in O’Dell, Oregon.

Hyperparasite