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Molecular and morphological diagnoses of five species of Trichogramma: biological control agents of Chrysodeixis chalcites (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in the Canary Islands

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Abstract

Prospecting for potential natural enemies of the invasive lepidopteran tomato pest Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) and the banana pest Chrysodeixis chalcites (Esper) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on the Canary Islands archipelago, where no Trichogramma species were previously recorded, has led to the discovery of five distinct species. T. achaeae Nagaraja & Nagarkatti, T. bourarachae Pintureau & Babault, T. euproctidis (Girault) and T. evanescens Westwood are relatively widespread species. The fifth is close to T. brassicae Bezdenko, but differs sufficiently in the sequence of the ITS2 region of ribosomal RNA to warrant further investigation as a species probably new to science. Each species is treated in detail in order to facilitate identification in future using molecular and/or morphological characters, or a combination of both. All species are newly recorded for the Canary Islands, and the distribution of each within the islands and elsewhere is provided. Known host records are given within the Canary Islands and elsewhere. The most common species found, T. achaeae, is already being used in biological control programmes against T. absoluta in mainland Spain and field trials are ongoing to evaluate its effectiveness as a biological control agent of C. chalcites in banana crops.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to AgroBio S.L. and ASPROCAN for their financial support and collaboration during Trichogramma field collection. The research of M. del Pino was financially supported by a pre-doctoral fellowship granted by “Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA)”. The paper benefited greatly from comments by two anonymous reviewers

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Andrew Polaszek

  2. Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Paul F. Rugman-Jones & Richard Stouthamer

  3. Department of Protección Vegetal, Instituto Canario de Investigaciones Agrarias, P.B. 60, 38200, La Laguna, Tenerife, Islas Canarias, Spain

    Estrella Hernandez-Suarez & Modesto del Pino Pérez

  4. Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología Agroalimentaria, Universidad de Almería, Ctra Sacramento s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain

    Tomás Cabello

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  1. Andrew Polaszek
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  2. Paul F. Rugman-Jones
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  3. Richard Stouthamer
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  4. Estrella Hernandez-Suarez
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  5. Tomás Cabello
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  6. Modesto del Pino Pérez
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Correspondence to Andrew Polaszek.

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Polaszek, A., Rugman-Jones, P.F., Stouthamer, R. et al. Molecular and morphological diagnoses of five species of Trichogramma: biological control agents of Chrysodeixis chalcites (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in the Canary Islands. BioControl 57, 21–35 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-011-9361-y

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