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Genetic variability in the parasitic fly, Sarcophaga villeneuveana, in south-western Europe and Morocco

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Abstract

The snail, Cochlicella acuta (Müller), is an introduced pest of grain crops in southern Australia, and native to Europe and north-west Africa. Parasitoid flies (Sarcophaga villeneuveana (Enderlein)) have previously been sourced from France to attempt biological control of the pest in Australia, but have failed. Cochlicella acuta has three mitochondrial lineages (CO1 & 16S based) within its native distribution. The snails now found in Australia belong to just one of these lineages. Their origins most likely lie in the southern Iberian Peninsula or Morocco, not in France. We collected S. villeneuveana attacking C. acuta in France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Australia. Genetic structure (CO1) was not found within the fly that aligned with the lineages recorded for the snail host in the same regions. However, geographical patterns were detected amongst haplotypes of S. villeneuveana which encourage further, better targeted searches in Morocco and the southern Iberian Peninsula for a more effective biological control agent(s).

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Grains Research & Development Corporation Australia for funding the research (Projects DAS00095 and DAS00134). Greg Baker and Kelly Hill (SARDI, Australia) kindly provided CO1 sequences for two S. villeneuveana individuals, Daniel Whitmore (Natural History Museum, UK) identified S. longestylata, Fatiha Guermache (EBCL, France) provided technical advice in molecular biology, Elven Kerdellant (EBCL, France) assisted with snail dissections, and Valérie Caron (CSIRO) provided advice on a draft of the manuscript. We particularly thank the La Consejera de Medio Ambiente y Ordenacion del Territorio de la Junta de Andalucia and Generalitat de Valenciana Conselleria de Infraestructures, Territori I Medi Ambient for authorisations of collections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Health & Biosecurity, European Laboratory, Campus International de Baillarguet, 830 Avenue du Campus Agropolis, 34980, Montferrier-sur-Lez Cedex, France

    Mireille Jourdan & Thierry Thomann

  2. Pontificia, 116 Grande Rue, 03220, Jaligny-sur-Besbre, France

    René Richet

  3. Museum of Natural History, Faculty of Sciences LHEA, University Cadi Ayyad, 40000, Marrakech, Morocco

    Yassine Fendane & Mohamed Ghamizi

  4. USDA-ARS-EBCL, Campus International de Baillarguet, CS 90013 Montferrier-sur-Lez, 34988, St Gely du Fesc Cedex, France

    Marie-Claude Bon

  5. CSIRO Health & Biosecurity, P.O. Box 1700, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Andy Sheppard & Geoff H. Baker

Authors
  1. Mireille Jourdan
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  2. Thierry Thomann
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  3. René Richet
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  4. Yassine Fendane
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  5. Mohamed Ghamizi
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  6. Marie-Claude Bon
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  7. Andy Sheppard
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  8. Geoff H. Baker
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Correspondence to Geoff H. Baker.

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The article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals other than those detailed for the snails and flies.

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Jourdan, M., Thomann, T., Richet, R. et al. Genetic variability in the parasitic fly, Sarcophaga villeneuveana, in south-western Europe and Morocco. BioControl 65, 59–70 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-019-09985-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-019-09985-7

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