scholarly journals Natural enemies of armored scales (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) and soft scales (Hemiptera: Coccoidae) in Chile: molecular and morphological identification

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Amouroux ◽  
D. Crochard ◽  
M.C.G. Correa ◽  
G. Groussier ◽  
P. Kreiter ◽  
...  

AbstractScale insects (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) are key pests of agricultural crops and ornamental plants worldwide. Their populations are difficult to control, even with insecticides, due to their cryptic habits. Moreover, there is growing concern over the use of synthetic pesticides for their control, due to deleterious environmental effects and the emergence of resistant populations of target pests. In this context, biological control may be an effective and sustainable approach. Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea includes natural enemies of scale insects that have been successfully used in many biological control programs. However, the correct identification of pest scale species and their natural enemies is particularly challenging because these insects are very small and highly specialized. Integrative taxonomy, coupling DNA barcoding and morphological analysis, has been successfully used to characterize pests and natural enemy species. In this study, we performed a survey of parasitoids and predators of armored and soft scales in Chile, based on 28S and COI barcodes. Fifty-three populations of Diaspididae and 79 populations of Coccidae were sampled over the entire length of the country, from Arica (18°S) to Frutillar (41°S), between January 2015 and February 2016. The phylogenetic relationships obtained by Bayesian inference from multilocus haplotypes revealed 40 putative species of Chalcidoidea, five Coccinellidae and three Neuroptera. In Chalcidoidea, 22 species were identified morphologically, resulting in new COI barcodes for 12 species and new 28S barcodes for 14 species. Two predator species (Rhyzobius lophantae and Coccidophilus transandinus) were identified morphologically, and two parasitoid species, Chartocerus niger and Signiphora bifasciata, were recorded for the first time in Chile.

2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 306-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fariba Sohrabi ◽  
Hossein Lotfalizadeh ◽  
Hoda Salehipour

Abstract The tomato leafminer Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) is one of the most devastating pests of greenhouse and outdoor tomato crops. Since it is a newly introduced pest in Iran, there is an important need to search for its natural enemies. In the course of a survey on the natural enemies of this pest, samplings were carried out in tomato greenhouses heavily infested with the tomato leafminer, in the Borazjan region of the Bushehr province in Iran. Leaves with mines were reared in the laboratory until emergence of parasitoids. A single parasitoid species of the family Eulophidae was reared and identified as Neochrysocharis formosus (Westwood 1833). This species is reported for the first time on the tomato leafminer in Iran. Such information may help in developing biological control programs to control this serious pest.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 236 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Selvaraj ◽  
R. Sundararaj ◽  
T. Venkatesan ◽  
Chandish R. Ballal ◽  
S. K. Jalali ◽  
...  

A invasive rugose spiraling whitefly (RSW) <em>Aleurodicus rugioperculatus</em> Martin (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) was found infesting coconut, banana, custard apple and several ornamental plants in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala for the first time in India. The identity of the pest species was determined through morphological and molecular tools. Furthermore cytochrome c oxidase-I gene (658 bp) of RSW was sequenced (GenBank accession number KY209909) which would serve as an ideal molecular diagnostic marker for its identification irrespective of its phenotypic plasticity. During the survey, several natural enemies were recorded and maximum parasitism was recorded by <em>Encarsia guadeloupae</em> Viggiani (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) and its COI gene was sequenced and deposited as <em>Encarsia</em> sp. (GenBank accession number KY223606). Per cent parasitism ranged from 20.0 to 60.0 % in different collection locations, highest parasitism being recorded in Kerala as compared to other states. The predators recorded were <em>Mallada</em> sp., few coccinellids and predatory mites. This communication is the first report of the rugose spiraling whitefly, its host plant range and associated natural enemies in India.


Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 662
Author(s):  
Flávio R. M. Garcia ◽  
Sérgio M. Ovruski ◽  
Lorena Suárez ◽  
Jorge Cancino ◽  
Oscar E. Liburd

Biological control has been the most commonly researched control tactic within fruit fly management programs. For the first time, a review is carried out covering parasitoids and predators of fruit flies (Tephritidae) from the Americas and Hawaii, presenting the main biological control programs in this region. In this work, 31 species of fruit flies of economic importance are considered in the genera Anastrepha (11), Rhagoletis (14), Bactrocera (4), Ceratitis (1), and Zeugodacus (1). In this study, a total of 79 parasitoid species of fruit flies of economic importance are listed and, from these, 50 are native and 29 are introduced. A total of 56 species of fruit fly predators occur in the Americas and Hawaii.


Author(s):  
Xing-eng Wang

Abstract Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) is native to East Asia but has widely established in the Americas and Europe, where it is a devastating pest of soft-skinned fruits. It has a wide host range and these non-crop habitats harbor the fly which then repeatedly reinvades crop fields. Biological control in non-crop habitats could be the cornerstone for sustainable management at the landscape level. Toward this goal, researchers have developed or investigated biological control tactics. We review over 100 studies, conducted in the Americas, Asia and Europe on natural enemies of D. suzukii. Two previous reviews provided an overview of potential natural enemies and detailed accounts on foreign explorations. Here, we provide an up-to-date list of known or evaluated parasitoids, predators and entomopathogens (pathogenic fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and viruses) and summarize research progress to date. We emphasize a systematic approach toward the development of biological control strategies that can stand alone or be combined with more conventional control tools. Finally, we propose a framework for the integrated use of biological control tools, from classical biological control with host-specific Asian parasitoids, to augmentative and conservation biological control with indigenous natural enemies, to the use of entomopathogens. This review provides a roadmap to foster the use of biological control tools in more sustainable D. suzukii control programs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angélica Massarolli ◽  
Ana Regina Lucena Hoffmann ◽  
Bruna Magda Favetti ◽  
Alessandra Regina Butnariu

Studies on natural enemies are important to find new species and to develop management strategies to preserve them to help control pests in biological control programs. For the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, which comprises the Amazon, Cerrado, and Pantanal biomes, few studies have been conducted on the diversity of these parasitoids, possible endemic and/or new species, as well as their potential as natural enemies. Thus, the present study was aimed at describing the diversity of parasitoids of the families Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) and Tachinidae (Diptera) associated with pest lepidopterans in soybean crops. Weekly sampling of pest lepidopterans was carried out during four soybean seasons (2009/2010, 2010/2011, 2011/2012 and 2012/2013). Parasitoid larvae were observed in the main lepidopteran pest species of soybean during the four soybean seasons. Three genera of the Ichneumonidae family, belonging to the genera Microcharops Roman, Ophionellus Westwood, and Podogaster Brullé. Six genera of the Tachinidae family occur in the state of Mato Grosso in soybean fields. The following genera were recorded: Archytas spp. Jaennicke, Phorocera spp. Robineau-Desvoidy, Gymnocarcelia spp. Townsend, Lespesia spp. Robineau-Desvoidy, Eucelatoria spp. Townsend, Chetogena spp. Rondani. These parasitoids were found parasitizing caterpillars of the Noctuidae (Lepidoptera), in species that had not yet been reported as hosts for the Neotropical region. Further studies are needed on the beneficial entomofauna and their preservation in agricultural environments.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Magalhães Borges Battel ◽  
◽  
Rafael de Andrade Moral ◽  
Camila Alves Rodrigues ◽  
Márcio da Silva Araújo ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT: This study investigated the influence of cage sizes on the survival and reproductive potential of Chrysoperla externa (Hagen). Size of breeding cages significantly affected the reproductive potential of C. externa . Our results indicated that in cages smaller (7.5cm of diameter) than those usually recommended for the rearing of this insect (10cm diameter), females showed higher rates of oviposition. Reduction of space for rearing natural enemies in the laboratory is very important for developing biological control programs.


Author(s):  
Judith H. Myers

The movement of humans around the earth has been associated with an amazing redistribution of a variety of organisms to new continents and exotic islands. The natural biodiversity of native communities is threatened by new invasive species, and many of the most serious insect and weed pests are exotics. Classical biological control is one approach to dealing with nonindigenous species. If introduced species that lack natural enemies are competitively superior in exotic habitats, introducing some of their predators (herbivores), diseases, or parasitoids may reduce their population densities. Thus, the introduction of more exotic species may be necessary to reduce the competitive superiority of nonindigenous pests. The intentional introduction of insects as biological control agents provides an experimental arena in which adaptations and interactions among species may be tested. We can use biological control programs to explore such evolutionary questions as: What characteristics make a natural enemy a successful biological control agent? Does coevolution of herbivores and hosts or predators (parasitoids) and prey result in few species of natural enemies having the potential to be successful biological control agents? Do introduced natural enemies make unexpected host range shifts in new environments? Do exotic species lose their defense against specialized natural enemies after living for many generations without them? If coevolution is a common force in nature, we expect biological control interactions to demonstrate a dynamic interplay between hosts and their natural enemies. In this chapter, I consider biological control introductions to be experiments that might yield evidence on how adaptation molds the interactions between species and their natural enemies. I argue that the best biological control agents will be those to which the target hosts have not evolved resistance. Classical biological control is the movement of natural enemies from a native habitat to an exotic habitat where their host has become a pest. This approach to exotic pests has been practiced since the late 1800s, when Albert Koebele explored the native habitat of the cottony cushion scale, Icrya purchasi, in Australia and introduced Vadalia cardinalis beetles (see below) to control the cottony cushion scale on citrus in California. This control has continued to be a success.


2000 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 507-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronaldo Reis Jr ◽  
Og De Souza ◽  
Evaldo F. Vilela

A well known case of ineffective natural biological control: the puzzling coexistence of the coffee leaf miner, Leucoptera coffeellum (Guérin-Mèneville), and its natural enemies was analyzed. Despite being a suitable prey to eight parasitoid species and three wasp species, all occurring simultaneously, the coffee leaf miner too often presents populations far above the damaging level for the coffee plantation. It is demonstrated that predatory wasps and parasitoids interact negatively, possibly because predatory wasps kill parasitized miner's larvae. In doing so, predatory wasps indirectly kill parasitoids, thereby impairing the efficacy of the natural biological control. It is warned that biological control programs should be based on knowledge of food web interactions, rather than simply on strategies involving introduction of exotic natural enemies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (04) ◽  
pp. 142-144
Author(s):  
Carla BALIOTTE ◽  
Daniel A. AQUINO ◽  
Juan P. BOUVET ◽  
Gimena DELLAPÉ

The Psyllidae family is the most diverse within Psylloidea, with more than 1,300 species worldwide. Some psyllid species are important pests mainly of fruit trees, forest and ornamental plants. Despite being an economically relevant group, there are few studies on its biology, geographic distribution, natural enemies or host plant associations for many Argentinean psyllid species. This work records one species from Argentina for the first time, extends the distribution of another two psyllid species and provides information on host plants.


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