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Drosophila parasitoids in northern Italy and their potential to attack the exotic pest Drosophila suzukii

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Abstract

Drosophila suzukii is an invasive alien pest recently introduced into Europe and North and South America. Several control methods have been tested, and the ability of natural enemies to control this pest has been investigated. This study aimed to identify the main parasitoids of drosophilids in North Italy via field surveys, and to evaluate the ability of some of those species emerged to parasitize D. suzukii compared to indigenous D. melanogaster. A nine-site survey from July to October 2014 that exposed fruit (banana and blueberry) for 7 and 14 days obtained six parasitoid species, ranked from highest abundance: Leptopilina boulardi, L. heterotoma (Hymenoptera: Figitidae), Pachycrepoideus vindemiae (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), Trichopria cf. drosophilae (Hymenoptera: Diapriidae), Asobara tabida (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), and Spalangia erythromera (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). The presence and abundance of these species varied greatly among the sites and across the season. The field survey results showed a relationship between parasitoids and indigenous Drosophila communities and a high host competition. The ability of larval parasitoids L. boulardi and L. heterotoma and pupal parasitoid T. cf. drosophilae to parasitize the exotic and indigenous hosts was laboratory tested. Both larval parasitoids failed to develop on D. suzukii, but high mortality was recorded in larvae exposed to L. heterotoma. On the contrary, T. cf. drosophilae developed successfully on D. suzukii, with no significant differences between the exotic and indigenous hosts. These results beg further investigations of indigenous enemies, particularly T. cf. drosophilae, for effective biological control of D. suzukii.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Mattias Forshage (Station Linné, Färjestaden, Sweden), Augusto Loni (Dip. Scienze Agrarie, Agro-Alimentari ed Ambientali, University of Pisa, Italy), and David Notton (Natural History Museum, London, UK) for parasitoid identifications. We are also grateful to our colleagues at CReSO (Cuneo), Studio Pegaso (Torino), and DISAA (University of Milan) for their help with the field surveys. This research was supported by the project “Insects and globalization: sustainable control of exotic species in agro-forestry ecosystems (GEISCA, PRIN 2010-11)”, financed by the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research, and by a grant from Regione Piemonte—Assessorato Agricoltura.

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  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Forestali e Alimentari (DISAFA), University of Torino, largo P. Braccini 2, 10095, Grugliasco, TO, Italy

    Fabio Mazzetto, Dario Sacco & Luciana Tavella

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie (DipSA), University of Bologna, viale Fanin 42, 40127, Bologna, Italy

    Elisa Marchetti, Santolo Francati & Maria Luisa Dindo

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze per gli Alimenti, la Nutrizione, l’Ambiente (DeFENS), University of Milan, via Celoria 2, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Nasim Amiresmaeili, Costanza Jucker & Daniela Lupi

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Communicated by A. Biondi.

Special Issue: Spotted Wing Drosophila

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Mazzetto, F., Marchetti, E., Amiresmaeili, N. et al. Drosophila parasitoids in northern Italy and their potential to attack the exotic pest Drosophila suzukii . J Pest Sci 89, 837–850 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-016-0746-7

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