The effect of sulfur on biological control of the grape leafhopper, Erythroneura elegantula, by the egg parasitoid Anagrus erythroneurae

We examined the toxicity of a fungicide, sulfur, to the egg parasitoid Anagrus erythroneurae (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) Trjapitsyn and Chiapini and the vineyard leafhopper pest Erythroneura elegantula Osborn (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) and tested whether or not the use of sulfur in the field affects biological control of E. elegantula. Using field cage bioassays, we demonstrated that sulfur is toxic to adult A. erythroneurae parasitoids, but not toxic to adult E. elegantula leafhoppers. We nonetheless found in a field experiment that sulfur produced no changes in rates of parasitism or E. elegantula egg density, and generated only a very small increase in the density of E. elegantula nymphs. These results suggest that sulfur, although toxic to A. erythroneurae, is not highly disruptive of E. elegantula biological control in vineyards. Our results suggest that simple bioassays of acute toxicity may not accurately predict the impact of agricultural chemicals on biological control.