In the 1990s, it spread Pierce's disease to thousands of acres of vineyards in Temecula Valley. Probably came up from Mexico on nursery plants. To extend the tax through 2011 to help continue fighting the infestation. In June,ĩ0 percent of California grape growers voted The strategy is funded by a tax of $2 for every $1,000 It was released through the Sharpshooterīiological Control Program that originally started at UC Riverside. The wasp is part of CDFA's overall strategy to fight the sharpshooter. Within a few months, traps that had previously been catching dozens or even hundreds of sharpshooters were only catching one or two. Not long ago, Hawaiian officials released the wasp in response to a rapid spread of sharpshooter infestation. There is a good chance that the wasp will survive since it has already been proven to work against the sharpshooter. "That's how we will know if they survived or not." "In the spring, we will go out into the fields and collect sharpshooter eggs to look for the wasp's exit holes in the egg sack‹they make very distinctive exit holes," says Van Rein. ![]() ![]() Officials won't know whether or not the wasp will destroy the sharpshooter's breeding cycle until next spring. "It will be an interesting little biology experiment." "It lays 10 eggs where other wasps lay only one egg per sharpshooter egg, so the multiplication table is much more aggressive with this wasp," he says. In addition, the fact that the wasp lays far more eggs than the sharpshooters does more than just increase its odds of survival, explains CDFA spokesperson Jay Van Rein. Since the wasp would presumably live through the Southern California winter, it would be there to breed alongside the sharpshooter in the spring, a time when other wasps are dormant. Though this isn't the first wasp that has been released to fight the sharpshooter, Anagrus epos has a major advantage over the others: its ability to survive the harsh Minnesota winters. The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) imported the wasp from Minnesota and is in the process of releasing it into 50,000 square miles of Southern California. Then, the new wasps hatch before the sharpshooter and promptly devour it. The wasp comes along after it and inserts up to 10 of its eggs into every one of the sharpshooter's eggs. ![]() In spring, the sharpshooter, which spreads Pierce's disease to thousands of acres of California grapevines, lays neat rows of 12 to 20 eggs on the underside of leaves. It's related to the world's smallest insect, the fairy fly, but this tiny wasp, Anagrus epos, may single-handedly take down one of the wine industry's biggest bullies: the glassy-winged sharpshooter.Ī stingerless parasitic wasp, Anagrus epos has one goal in life: to lay its eggs inside sharpshooter eggs. Its relative 'Anagrus epos' may be a vintner's best friend.Ĭontrolling Pierce's disease one pest at a time Metroactive News & Issues | SharpshootersĪiry Fairy: The fairy fly, shown, is the world's smallest insect.
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