EcoAgtube – videos for agroecology and the environment

  • Contact us
  • support@ecoagtube.org

Biological control of whitefly - Encarsia Formosa

For many years, the parasitic wasp Encarsia Formosa was the only natural enemy used against whitefly. It is capable of using various species of whitefly as hosts. The female deposits her egg in older stages of the whitefly larvae. Once Encarsia has located a larva, it determines whether it is suitable to parasitize or use as food. When Encarsia parasitizes, a new wasp will develop inside the host larva. About halfway through this process, the host larva turns black. When the adult wasp emerges, it eats a round hole in the pupal skin.

or Signup to post comments

Top