Macrocentrus cingulum is an important parasitoid of the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis, in the northeast and mid-Atlantic states. The effects of transgenic Bt-corn and plant phenology on the abundance of M. cingulum were studied over a two year period in central Pennsylvania. Using a split-plot design field study, M. cingulum adults were captured on sticky traps in plots planted at three different dates with Bt-corn or its isoline hybrid. Although significant differences in number of M. cingulum between corn plots planted on different dates was not found, the abundance of M. cingulum followed abundance patterns expected in O. nubilalis populations. There was significantly less M. cingulum captured in Bt-corn plots than plots planted with an isoline hybrid, regardless of the date that the corn was planted or the sex of the adult wasps captured. In most cases there was 2 to 3 times as many M. cingulum adults captured in non-Bt corn plots.
Species 1: Hymenoptera Braconidae Macrocentrus cingulum
Species 2: Lepidoptera Crambidae Ostrinia nubilalis (European corn borer)
Keywords: transgenic corn, Bt resistance
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