Introduction
Information about the prevalence and effects of
endosymbiotic bacteria in pests and their natural
enemies may improve and optimize biological control
efforts. For example, the symbiont could be
eliminated, transferred or used through genetic modification
to take advantage or remove their possible
influences on pests and/or natural enemies (Floate
et al. 2006; Enigl and Schausberger 2007). The popular
symbiotic bacteria in arthropods are those in
the genus Wolbachia. At least 20% of all insect
species are estimated to be infected by Wolbachia
(Werren et al. 1995; Werren and Windsor 2000;
Kittayapong et al. 2003). These estimates result from
several Wolbachia screenings in which many species
were tested for infection. However, tests were mostly
performed on only one or two individuals per species.
The actual percent of species infected would
depend on the distribution of infection frequencies
among species (Hilgenboecker et al. 2008).