Twelve pesticides commonly used in citrus in Spain were tested on adults of Aphytis melinus DeBach to determine their effects on parasitoid survival and fecundity, and the duration of the residue of each pesticide. Six of these pesticides were found to be harmless to moderately harmful to this parasitoid in a laboratory assay in closed Petri dishes: spinosad (bait formulation), azadirachtin, fenbutatin, fosetyl-Al, copper oxichloride, and mancozeb, with their scores on the reduction of beneficial capacity (RBC) index being between 21.4 and 94.6% after one week. The other six pesticides classified as harmful were tested on citrus plants to study their persistence over time under greenhouse conditions: Pirimicarb, pyriproxifen, paraffinic oil, abamectin, chlorpyrifos, and lambda-cyhalothrin. Most of these products reduced their negative effect on adults of A. melinus between one and six weeks after treatment, although lambda-cyhalothrin was still harmful to parasitoids 11 weeks after application. This information can help growers and consultants to make decisions about pesticide selection and application timing in citrus in order to support IPM implementation when A. melinus is present.

Assessment of life history parameters of Aspidiotus nerii (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) to improve 1 the mass rearing of Aphytis melinus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) 2 Abstract 3The biological control of Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell) on citrus can be achieved with periodic 4 releases of the parasitoid Aphytis melinus DeBach. Aphytis melinus is normally reared on 5 parthenogenetic strains of the scale Aspidiotus nerii Bouché. The developmental rate, crawler 6 production, and survival of A. nerii were studied at two temperatures (25±1 and 30±1 ºC) and two 7 levels of relative humidity (55±5 and 85±5%) on squash. Temperature had an important effect on 8 developmental rate, but relative humidity did not. At 30 ºC, no growth was observed and no crawlers 9 were produced. At 25 ºC, development of the L1, L2, and young females stages required 24.4±0.7, 10 11.1±0.8, and 13.2±0.3 days, respectively. At 25 ºC, times until the appearance of mature females, 11 the start of crawler production, and the peak of crawler production were 48.7±0.1, 50.1±0.7, and 12 63.3±1.0 days, respectively. Crawler production lasted 42.6±1.9 days, and the 50% production level 13 was reached on day 13. Initially, crawler survival was higher at 30 ºC (65.9±2.8 %) than at 25 ºC 14 (51.7±4.8%), but by the end of development survival was much higher at 25 than 30 ºC (88.0±2.1% 15 vs 22.9±2.7%). Relative humidity had no effect on either initial or final survival. Average progeny 16 production was of 28.0±2.8 crawlers per female at 25 ºC. The relationship between the weight of 17 groups of crawlers and their number was: Number = 1,031 + 835,500*weight of group (g) (R 2 = 18 0.826), which can assist in colony management. The importance of selecting the correct strain of A. 19 nerii is emphasised. 20 21

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