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Molecular characterization of parasitoids from armored scales infesting citrus orchards in Corsica, France

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Abstract

Armored scales (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) are important pests in citrus orchards worldwide. Augmentative releases of Aphelinidae wasps (Hymenoptera) have been performed in Corsica, France to control the California Red Scale (Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell, 1879)) and the arrowhead scale (Unaspis yanonensis (Kuwana, 1923)), but biological control of armored scales requires the identification of their parasitoids to evaluate their potential as biological control agents. In order to circumvent this issue, parasitoids emerging from four armored scale species were characterized through DNA barcoding. All the parasitoids identified belong to the Aphelinidae (Hymenoptera) and included a total of five Aphytis (including A. melinus), four Encarsia (including cryptic species) and one Ablerus (hyperparasitoid) species. Host-specificity was found to be strong among primary parasitoids, with Encarsia inquirenda Silvestri, 1930 and an unidentified Encarsia being the sole taxa able to parasitize the two subfamilies (Aspidiotinae and Diaspidinae).

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Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to the AREFLEC and INRA colleagues that helped with sampling, and to the producers and technical advisors in Plant Protection that gave access to their orchards. Special thanks are due to the INRA-BPI team for their patience and support. This work was funded by the ONEMA through the ECOPHYTO program of the Cors’Aphy Project. MC and FP received financial support from the Marie Curie FP7 IAPP Project “Colbics” #324475. FP also acknowledges support by the project CHALLENGEN (CTM2013-48163) of the Spanish Government.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. INRA, Univ. Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, UMR 1355-7254 Institut Sophia Agrobiotech, 06900, Sophia Antipolis, France

      Margarita C. G. Correa, Ferran Palero, Sylvie Warot, Didier Crochard, Nicolas Ris & Philippe Kreiter

    2. AREFLEC, Corsic’Agropôle, route de Pianicce, Pôle agronomique, 20230, San Giuliano, Corsica, France

      Noémie Dubreuil, Laure Etienne & Mathieu Hulak

    3. INRA Centre de San Giuliano, Unité citrus, Pôle agronomique, 20230, San Giuliano, Corsica, France

      Gilles Tison

    4. Centre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Carrer d’Accés a la Cala Sant Francesc 14, 17300, Blanes, Spain

      Ferran Palero

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    1. Margarita C. G. Correa
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    Correspondence to Ferran Palero.

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    Handling Editor: Josep Anton Jaques Miret

    Margarita C. G. Correa and Ferran Palero contributed equally to this work.

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    Correa, M.C.G., Palero, F., Dubreuil, N. et al. Molecular characterization of parasitoids from armored scales infesting citrus orchards in Corsica, France. BioControl 61, 639–647 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-016-9752-1

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-016-9752-1

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