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First report of Arrhenophagus chionaspidis Aurivillius (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) on Aulacaspis tubercularis Newstead (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) in the Canary Islands

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Abstract

The white mango scale, Aulacaspis tubercularis Newstead (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) is an exotic pest that causes important economic damage in the Spanish mango crops. Prospecting for potential natural enemies, the parasitic wasp Arrhenophagus chionaspidis Aurivillius (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) was first detected attacking immature male stages of A. tubercularis in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) in 2022. Still, its influence on pest populations was not evaluated. This endoparasitoid was identified by its morphological characteristics and characterized for the first time by DNA barcoding of adult females using partial (651 bp) mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 (mtCOI) gene (Genbank accession number OQ646824). Its potential utilization as biological control agent of A. tubercularis in mango crops is discussed. Therefore, further studies need to be conducted about its biology, population dynamics and rate of natural parasitism for the development of effective biological control strategies of A. tubercularis in mango.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are especially grateful to Andrew Polaszek (NHM) for confirming morphological identifications, Josefa Alcalá (IFAPA) and Josemaría Delgado (IFAPA) for their technical assistance during the molecular identifications and José Miguel Vela (IFAPA) for funding acquisition.

Funding

This research was funded by the Regional Government of Andalusia (Spain) and 80% co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the grant number AVA.AVA2019.038 project and by the Agricultural Research Advisory Council of the Regional Government of the Canary Islands through the project number CAIA23-0003-06. M.d.P. was supported by an INIA-CCAA postdoctoral contract, 20% co-financed by Spanish National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA), and 80% by ERDF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Crop Protection, Murcian Institute of Agricultural and Environment Research and Development (IMIDA), C/ Mayor s/n, La Alberca, Murcia, 30150, Spain

    Modesto del Pino

  2. Canarian Institute of Agricultural Research (ICIA), Ctra. El Boquerón s/n, La Laguna, Canary Islands, 38270, Spain

    Miguel Ángel Dionisio & Estrella Hernández-Suárez

  3. Andalusian Institute for Research and Training in Agriculture, Fishery, Food and Ecological Production (IFAPA), Cortijo de la Cruz s/n, Churriana, 29140, Málaga, Spain

    Leonardo Velasco

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  1. Modesto del Pino
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  2. Miguel Ángel Dionisio
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  3. Estrella Hernández-Suárez
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  4. Leonardo Velasco
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Contributions

M.d.P.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Supervision. M.A.D.: Investigation, Writing – review & editing. E.H.S.: Writing – review & editing. L.V.: Methodology, Investigation, Writing – review & editing. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Modesto del Pino.

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del Pino, M., Dionisio, M.Á., Hernández-Suárez, E. et al. First report of Arrhenophagus chionaspidis Aurivillius (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) on Aulacaspis tubercularis Newstead (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) in the Canary Islands. Phytoparasitica 52, 45 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12600-024-01159-1

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