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a genus of ichneumon flies of the order Hy-menoptera that parasitize insect eggs. The flies are small, measuring 0.3–0.6 mm, and range in color from pale yellow to brownish black. They parasitize 215 species from six orders, mainly moths and hymenoptera. The female lays 25–150 eggs (usually 40–60), depositing between one and 40 in each egg of the host, depending on the size of the host’s egg. Under favorable conditions, development lasts approximately two weeks.

In the USSR, T. evanescens is the most important species, as it parasitizes more than 100 species of moths, including the grain moth Nemapogon granellus, Barathra brassicae, Argotis segetum, the corn borer (Pyrausta nubilalis), and the codling moth (Laspeyresia pomonella). The insect sometimes destroys 90–100 percent of the eggs of destructive species. T. pallida is a parasite of the codling moth and some leaf roller moths, and T. pini feeds on eggs of the pine moth.

The most important species in the USA is T. minutum, which is used to control the codling moth, Grapholitha molesta, the sugarcane borer (Diatraea saccharalis), and Chilo simplex.

Insects of the genus Trichogramma have long been used to control crop pests because they are easy to raise in a laboratory and are polyphagous. However, despite a number of successful instances when the insects were employed, lasting positive results have not yet been achieved.


Biologicheskaia bor’ba s vrednymi nasekomymi i sorniakami. Moscow, 1968. (Translated from English.)
Khimicheskaia i biologicheskaia zashchita rastenii. Moscow, 1971.


References in periodicals archive ?
The research team will involve the farmers in the program by promoting the adoption of village-level production of biological control agents (BCAs), such as Trichogramma, helicoverpa nuclear polyhedrosis virus and earwigs in their farms.
frugiperda, egg parasitoids, including Trichogramma species (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae).
The present results are partly supported by FACT (2010) who noticed Microplitis maculipennis as larval parasitoid and Trichogramma evanescens as an egg parasitoid on jatropha [16].
Thus, alternative measures must be adopted and biological control using parasitoids of Trichogramma eggs, is an important measure because they are key species in the regulation of the populations of several species of Lepidoptera pests, however, there are still insufficient studies involving the use of Trichogramma spp.
Malati and Hatami (2005) investigated that feeding on honey significantly enhanced the life span of adults of Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko.
1] did not reduce the emergence of Trichogramma pretiosum Riley (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) from pupae that received this treatment, compared with the control (CARMO et al.
Effect of beetles pests and their natural enemies in the mass rearing of Sitotroga cerealella for Trichogramma production
The present investigations were carried out to know the safer and effective combinations of botanicals and microbial insecticides to Trichogramma chilonis in laboratory conditions.
Some insects are parasitoid in nature, parasitizing those insects which are threat to our crops and fruit trees like Bracon spp and Trichogramma spp.