Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-txr5j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-06T18:21:23.529Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On the coexistence of the cassava mealybug parasitoids Apoanagyrus diversicornis and A. lopezi (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) in their native South America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Janine W.A.M. Pijls*
Affiliation:
Leiden University, Institute of Evolutionary and Ecological Sciences, Leiden, The Netherlands
Jacques J.M. van Alphen
Affiliation:
Leiden University, Institute of Evolutionary and Ecological Sciences, Leiden, The Netherlands
*
Janine Pijls, Leiden University, Institute of Evolutionary and Ecological Sciences, Kaiserstraat 63, 2311 GP Leiden, The Netherlands.

Abstract

The encyrtid parasitoid Apoanagyrus diversicornis (Howard) (formerly known as Epidinocarsis diversicornis) failed to establish itself in Africa where it was introduced, in addition to A. lopezi De Santis for the biological control of the cassava mealybug, Phenacoccus manihoti Matile-Ferrero. Apoanagyrus lopezi is a better competitor and available evidence suggests that competition prevents the coexistence. Yet, both parasitoid species were reared from P. manihoti in the same locality in their native South America. Competition should prevent coexistence on P. manihoti in South America as well as in Africa. We investigated how A. diversicornis persists in South America. The use of alternative hosts could explain its persistence. We aimed at finding possible alternative hosts for A. diversicornis that can serve as a refuge from competition with A. lopezi. The existing information on the distribution of A. lopezi and A. diversicornis and their known hosts in South America is reviewed. Candidate alternative hosts for A. diversicornis were selected and tested. Alternative hosts should at least be suitable for development of A. diversicornis and unsuitable for development of A. lopezi. Only Phenacoccus herreni Cox & Williams met these requirements. Phenacoccus madeirensis Green, P. solani Ferris and Ferrisia virgata (Cockerell) were unsuitable hosts for both species. In cages with continuous parasitoid populations under strong interspecific competition, A. diversicornis did significantly better if half the population of P. manihoti was replaced by P. herreni. This supports the hypothesis that P. herreni can serve as an alternative host for A. diversicornis in South America and that its presence enhances coexistence of A. diversicornis and A. lopezi. Phenacoccus herreni is absent in Africa.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alphen, J.J.M. van, Neuenschwander, P., Dijken, M.J. van, Hammond, W.N.O. & Herren, H.R. (1989) Insect invasions: the case of the cassava mealybug and its natural enemies evaluated. Entomologist 108, 3855.Google Scholar
Alphen, J.J.M. van, Kraaijeveld, A.R. & Xu, Chong Ren (1990) A comparison of Epidinocarsis lopezi and E. diversicornis: a possible explanation for the failed introduction of E. diversicornis against cassava mealybug Phenacoccus manihoti into Africa. Mededelingen van de Faculteit Landbouwwetenschappen, Rijksuniversiteit Gent 55, 276287.Google Scholar
CIAT (1990). Annual Report for 1990. pp. 127178. Unpublished Report of the Centre International de Agricultura Tropical, Cali, Colombia.Google Scholar
Dijken, M.J. van & Alphen, J.J.M. van (1991) Sex allocation in Epidinocarsis lopezi: the influence of host-size distribution and its effect on the population sex ratio in cassava fields in Africa. Redia 74, 195201.Google Scholar
Driesche, R.G. van, Bellotti, A., Herrera, C.J. & Castillo, J.A. (1986) Encapsulation rates of two encyrtid parasitoids by two Phenacoccus spp. of cassava mealybugs in Colombia. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 42, 7982.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Driesche, R.G. van, Bellotti, A., Herrera, C.J. & Castillo, J.A. (1987) Host preferences of two encyrtid parasitoids for the Columbian Phenacoccus spp. of cassava mealybugs. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 43, 261266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Figueiredo, Warumby J., Costa de Lyra Netto, A.M. & Pontes, Lira Filho H. (1987) Inimigos naturais da cochonilha da mandioca Phenacoccus herreni (Homoptera Pseudococcidae) no estado de Pernambuco. IPA, Empresa Pernambucana de Pesquisa Agropecuária, Comunicado Técnico 33, 5 pp.Google Scholar
Foldi, I. (1988) Nouvelle contribution à l'étude des cochenilles de l'Amazonie brésilienne (Homoptera: Coccoidea). Annales de la Société Entomologique Française (N.S.) 24, 7787.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurevitch, J. & Chester, S.T. Jr. (1986) Analysis of repeated measures experiments. Ecology 67, 251255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutierrez, A.P., Neuenschwander, P. & van Alphen, J.J.M. (1993) Factors affecting biological control of cassava mealybug by exotic parasitoids: a ratio-dependent supply-demand driven model. Journal of Applied Ecology 30, 706721.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herren, H.R. & Neuenschwander, P. (1991) Biological control of cassava pests in Africa. Annual Review of Entomology 36, 257283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrera, C.J., Driesche, R.G. van & Bellotti, A.C. (1989) Temperature-dependent growth rates for the cassava mealybug, Phenacoccus herreni, and two of its encyrtid parasitoids, Epidinocarsis diversicornis and Acerophagus coccois in Colombia. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 50, 2127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kraaijeveld, A.R.Alphen, J.J.M. van (1986) Host-stage selection and sex allocation by Epidinocarsis lopezi (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), a parasitoid of the cassava mealybug, Phenacoccus manihoti (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae). Mededelingen van de Faculteit Landbouwwetenschappen, Rijksuniversiteit Gent 51, 10671078.Google Scholar
Löhr, B., Varela, A.M. & Santos, B. (1990) Exploration for natural enemies of the cassava mealybug, Phenacoccus manihoti (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae), in South America for the biological control of this introduced pest in Africa. Bulletin of Entomological Research 80, 417425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neuenschwander, P., Hennessey, R.D. & Herren, H.R. (1987) Food web of insects associated with the cassava mealybug, Phenacoccus manihoti Matile-Ferrero (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), and its introduced parasitoid, Epidinocarsis lopezi (De Santis) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), in Africa. Bulletin of Entomological Research 77, 177189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noyes, J.S. & Hayat, M. (1994) Oriental mealybug parasitoids of the Anagyrini (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). 554 pp. Wallingford, UK, CAB International.Google Scholar
Nwanze, F.F. (1982) Relationship between cassava root yields and crop infestations by the mealybug, Phenacoccus manihoti. Tropical Pest Management 28, 2732.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, E.S. & Hartley, H.O. (1954) Biometrika tables for statisticians, Vol. I. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pijls, J.W.A.M., Hofker, C.D., Staalduinen, M.J. van & Alphen, J.J.M. van (1995) Interspecific host discrimination and competition in Apoanagyrus (Epidinocarsis) lopezi and A. (E.) diversicornis, parasitoids of the cassava mealybug Phenacoccus manihoti. Ecological Entomology 20, 326332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pijls, J.W.A.M., Poleij, L.M., Alphen, J.J.M. van & Meelis, E. (1996 a) Interspecific interference between Apoanagyrus lopezi and A. diversicornis, parasitoids of the cassava mealybug Phenacoccus manihoti. Entomologia experimental et applicata 78(2), in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pijls, J. W. A. M., Steenbergen, J. J. van & Alphen, J. J. M. van (1996 b) Asexuality cured: the relations and differences between sexual and asexual Apoanagyrus diversicornis. Heredity, in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Varela, A.M. & Bellotti, A.C. (1981) Algunos aspectos biologicos y observaciones de un nuevo piojo harinoso de la yuca Phenacoccus herreni (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae) en Colombia. Revista Colombiana de Entomologia 7, 2126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Varela, A.M., Bellotti, A.C. & Reyes, J.A. (1979) Biologia y ecologia del piojo harinoso de la yuca Phenacoccus gossypii Townsend y Cockerell (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae). Revista Colombiana de Entomologia 5, 915.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, D.J. (1986) Mealybugs (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae) on cassava with special reference to those associated with wild and cultivated cassava in the Americas, pp. 4956in Herren, H.R. & Hennessey, R.N. (Eds) Biological control and host plant resistance to control the cassava mealybug and green mite in Africa (Proceedings of an international workshop, December 6–10, 1982).Google Scholar
Williams, D.J. (1987) Phenacoccus gossypii Townsend and Cockerell, P. madeirensis Green and some related mealybug species (Hemiptera, Pseudococcidae). Bulletin of Entomological Research 77, 335356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, D.J. & Granara de Willink, M.C. (1992) Mealybugs of Central and South America. 635 pp. Wallingford, UK, CAB International.Google Scholar
Yaseen, M. (1981) Report on surveys for cassava mealybugs (Phenacoccus spp.) and their natural enemies in South America (January–March 1981). Unpublished Report of the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control, 7 pp.Google Scholar