Super-, multi- and hyperparasitism and their effect on the biological control of insect pests

Abstract

The last decade and a half will ever be remembered, in the annals of applied entomology, as the period when some of the most powerful insecticides ever known to man were synthesized. Yet DDT, gammexane, the organic phosphorous compounds and other chlorinated hydrocarbons, while solving some problems, have also created newer and more difficult problems. So, the biological basis of insect control has again come to the forefront. But the introduction and establishment of beneficial parasites from one country into another is no easy matter. If failures are to be avoided, there should be sustained research on all aspects of the problem. In this paper, the complex phenomena of super-, multi- and hyperparasitism are unfolded against the general background of insect parasitism on which the biological control of insect pests rests.