Fernanda Cingolani

Centro de Estudios Parasitologicos y de Vectores CEPAVE

Conservation biological control is the implementation of practices for preserving habitats, that maintain and enhance the reproduction, survival, and efficacy of natural enemies of pests. This involves identifying practices harmful to natural enemies and finding alternatives, and developing actions to actively benefit and promote natural enemies. I...

The use of egg parasitoids in Augmentative Biological Control (ABC) is a highly effective strategy within the integrated pest management (IPM) of lepidopteran defoliators. Safer than chemical insecticides, these natural antagonists have demonstrated significant efficacy. Trichogramma pretiosum and Telenomus remus, known for their high parasitism ra...

Several stink bugs species constitute an important pest complex in soybean worldwide. Tachinidae parasitoids are an important tool to be exploited in conservation biological control programs. We evaluated parasitism of pentatomids in different periods of their life-history: diapause (late autumn and winter), start of activity (spring) and full acti...

Stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) are the main pests of a variety of agricultural crops around the world. Usually, a large amount of hazardous pesticides are used to control them, and biological control exerted by natural enemies represents a promising alternative. The improvement upon natural biological control that is achieved by human interve...

The stink bugs Edessa meditabunda, Piezodorus guildinii, and Diceraeus furcatus (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) are major pests in the Argentinean core area of soybean production. A detailed molecular genetics comprehension of how these insects perceive odorants and respond to semiochemicals and how they detoxify chemical pesticides and plant compounds a...

This special issue comprises papers presented at the 7th International Entomophagous Insects Conference (IEIC7), in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2023. Entomophagous insects, which prey on or parasitize other insects, play a pivotal role in ecosystems and are widely utilized as biocontrol agents. This special issue includes two review articles and ni...

Soybean production is usually performed on large scales, requiring simple but efficient pest management to be successful. Soybean fields are inhabited by several species of arthropods, demanding constant development of management practices to prevent pest outbreaks. More recently, stink bugs have become the most important pest group of soybeans in...

Many animals lay their eggs in clusters. Eggs on the periphery of clusters can be at higher risk of mortality. We asked whether the most commonly occurring clutch sizes in pentatomid bugs could result from geometrical arrangements that maximize the proportion of eggs in the cluster’s interior. Although the most common clutch sizes do not correspond...

Biological control (BC) can occur naturally (without human intervention), or by being applied intentionally when it is the result of research and the scientific selection of antagonists. It consists of the reduction in the population density of one species through the action of another. Although the adoption of applied BC in Argentina started at th...

Piezodorus guildinii (Westwood) (Hemiptera Pentatomidae) is an important pest of several crops. Biological control using parasitoids as natural enemies of pests represents a promising alternative strategy to the use of pesticides. Oophagous parasitoids are helpful in the management of this pest, but they are not sufficient for the control of the ta...

Many animals lay their eggs in clusters. Eggs on the periphery of clusters can be at higher risk of mortality. We asked whether the most commonly occurring clutch sizes in pentatomid bugs could result from geometrical arrangements that maximize the proportion of eggs in the cluster's interior. Although the most common clutch sizes do not correspond...

Invasive stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) are responsible for high economic losses to agriculture on a global scale. The most important species, dating from recent to old invasions, include Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister), Halyomorpha halys (Stål), Piezodorus guildinii (Westwood), Nezara viridula (L.), and Murgantia histrionica (Hahn). Bagrada hil...

When searching for hosts, parasitoids may experience competition between adults exploiting the same host (extrinsic), or between larvae developing inside the host (intrinsic competition). Differences in competitive abilities like host location and resource utilisation promote coexistence. In this sense, extrinsically superior parasitoids better loc...

Several parasitoids attacking the same host may lead to competition. Adult parasitoids’ abilities to find, parasitize and defend hosts determine resource’s retention potential. In soybean, two egg parasitoid species, Telenomus podisi and Trissolcus urichi (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae), compete on the egg masses of Piezodorus guildinii (Hemiptera: P...

In the search for hosts, parasitoids may experience competition between adults exploiting the same host (extrinsic), or between larvae developing inside the host (intrinsic competition). An intrinsically inferior competitor may coexist with an intrinsically superior one, if it has better abilities to locate host. Adult parasitoids´ abilities to fin...

A trade-off is a relationship between two life history characteristics principally reproduction and adult longevity that are fundamental in predicting the optimal life history in any given environment. Mating is indispensable for sexual reproduction, but also can impose risks to females. Nevertheless, in the majority of insects, females allow multi...

Aphids are common herbivores in the strawberry crop that can reduce plant vigor and fruit quality and also transmit viruses. Aphid species prefer diverse plant organs, which represent particular habitats of different quality for aphids and for the development of natural enemies’ populations. Different habitat units (young leaves, mature leaves, bud...

Piezodorus guildinii (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is an important soybean pest, and one of its main natural enemies is Telenomus podisi (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae). To rear the parasitoid is constrained by hosts' quality, which deteriorates after few generations in laboratory, so cold-stored host eggs utilization could be a useful tool for augmentat...

Parasitoid's performance is subject to parasitism decisions influenced by host quality and parasitoid's age. We evaluated parasitism, emergence, and the progeny sex ratio proportions of Telenomus podisi (Ashmead), Trissolcus urichi (Crawford), and Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston) (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) females of different age attacking Piezod...

Piezodorus guildinii Westwood and Nezara viridula (L.) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) are important soybean pests. P. guildinii causes more injury and is less susceptible to insecticides compared to N. viridula. N. viridula egg parasitoids are well studied; however, little is known about parasitoids of P. guildinii. Alfalfa, soybean and red clover were...

Trissolcus basalis has been used as a biological control agent of its main host, Nezara viridula, in many countries. However, estimations of its functional and numerical responses in the field are lacking. We estimated the density of N. viridula eggs, the proportion of parasitized N. viridula eggs, and the number of T. basalis adults/trap in the fi...

Egg masses of Nezara viridula (L.) are commonly parasitized by Trissolcus basalis (Woll.), and we investigated the role of size of egg masses on parasitization by T. basalis . Sentinel egg masses were exposed to parasitism in the field for 6–7 days, when they were collected for evaluation of parasitoid emergence. We recorded the number of eggs per...

Among the herbivorous arthropods that feed on strawberry, the most important are the two-spotted spider mite (TSSM), Tetranychus urticae Koch, and several species of aphids. Mites and aphids belong to different guilds that coexist in the field and feed on the undersides of strawberry leaflets. However, the occurrence of large numbers of individuals...

The soybean crop has undergone a major expansion in several countries over the past 10 years. Phytophagous hemipterans of the family Pentatomidae, known as bugs, cause significant damage on seeds due to their feeding habits. In Argentina, the most important species are Piezodorus guildinii, Nezara viridula, Edessa meditabunda and Dichelops furcatus...

Multiparasitism involves competition between larvae inside the host. Telenomus podisi (Ashmead) and Trissolcus urichi (Crawford) (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) are solitary egg parasitoids of Piezodorus guildinii Westwood (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), an important soybean pest. Egg masses partially parasitized by one species were offered to females of...

We developed and validated a management plan for Tetranychus urticae in strawberries, based on the natural control exerted by Neoseiulus californicus and on acaricide applications made only when necessary. The plan has two components: a sampling protocol and a decision chart. Systematic presence–absence sampling of active T. urticae and N. californ...

Los trabajos realizados en la Estación Experimental Julio Hirschhorn se enmarcan en el plan de tesis doctoral de la Lic. M. Fernanda Cingolani, y aportaron al estudio de dos de los objetivos planteados en dicha tesis: 1. Estimar la eficiencia en la detección de posturas, la eficiencia y el impacto del parasitismo de Trissolcus basalis, Trissolcus u...

The aim of this work is to analyze the institutional and political framework in which the University Extension works. For this purpose, the politics of the Extension Department of the UNLP and the Natural Sciences and Museum College were analyzed. Though concrete actions to promote its development were observed in both institutions, the lack of hie...

The main pest of the strawberry crops is the “Two spotted spider mite”, Tetranychus urticae. Its control consists of preventive applications of acaricides, wich are many times unnecessary. In the crops also is an predator mite, Neoseiulus californicus, that can control the pest. Our objective was to transfer to the small and medium growers, of the...

The aim of this work is to introduce different theoretical and educational approaches by which rural Extension can be conceived. In this case, these approaches are then applied to make a self-criticism of the carried out extension activities. We see that we often reproduce old practices of Extension, without obtaining the appropriation of the knowl...