PARASITOIDS AND PATHOGENS OF THE SOYBEAN LOOPER, PSEUDOPLUSIA INCLUDENS (WALKER), IN SOUTH GEORGIA SOYBEAN

Larvae of the soybean looper (SBL), Pseudoplusia includens (Walker), were collected from soybean fields in south Georgia during the 1982, 1983, and 1984 growing seasons. Larvae were reared in the laboratory to determine levels of parasitism and disease incidence. Twelve parasitoid species including one hyperparasitoid were reared from SBL larvae. The three most common parasitoid species were Copidosoma truncatellum (Dalman), Meteorus autographae Muesebeck, and Cotesia marginiventris (Cresson). The most abundant pathogen was the fungus Entomophthora gammae Weiser, but the fungus Nomuraea rileyi (Farlow) Samson and a nuclear polyhedrosis virus also were present. Peak SBL densities were 73.5 larvae per rowmeter in 1982, 30.9 in 1983, and 19.8 in 1984. Total mortality of larvae collected from different locales due to parasitism and disease ranged from 36.5 to 77.6% during 1982, from 4.8 to 73.2% during 1983, and from 0 to 93.9% during 1984.