Fortuitous biological control of the invasive mealybug Phenacoccus peruvianus in Southern Europe

Autor: Antonia Soto, Alejandro Tena, Aleixandre Beltrà
Rok vydání: 2012
Předmět:
Zdroj: Impreso
ReDivia. Repositorio Digital del Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias
instname
RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
ISSN: 1573-8248
1386-6141
DOI: 10.1007/s10526-012-9488-5
Popis: Phenacoccus peruvianus Granara de Willink (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) is a Neotropical invasive mealybug that has rapidly spread throughout Mediterranean Basin. It has established itself as the principal pest of several ornamental plants, causing considerable problems in nurseries and urban landscapes. The aim of this study was to determine the natural enemy complex of this pest and report the feasibility of its biological control. Six urban green spaces were surveyed in eastern Spain from 2008 to 2010. The most abundant natural enemies of P. peruvianus were found to be the primary parasitoids Acerophagus n. sp. near coccois and Leptomastix epona Walker (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). Phenacoccus peruvianus populations were lower during the second and third year of the survey, coinciding with an increase of the parasitoid Acerophagus sp., which displaced the native L. epona. Differential female offspring and resource preemption are discussed as the main reasons for this displacement.
This research was supported by one predoctoral grant (FPU) and a postdoctoral fellowship (Juan de la Cierva) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. English corrections were funded by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spain.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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