Investigating biological control agents for controlling invasive populations of the Mealybug Pseudococcus comstocki in France

Thibaut Malausa (1) , Mathilde Delaunay (1) , Alexandre Fleisch (1) , Geraldine Groussier (1) , Sylvie Warot (1) , Didier Crochard (1) , Emilio Guerrieri (2) , Gérard Delvare (3) , Giuseppina Pellizzari (4) , M. Bora Kaydan (5) , Nadia Al-Khateeb (6) , Jean-Francois Germain (7) , Lisa Brancaccio (1) , Isabelle Le Goff (1) , Mélissa Bessac (1) , Nicolas Ris (1) , Philippe Kreiter (1)

1 ISA - Institut Sophia Agrobiotech
2 Ist Protez Sostenibile Piante
3 UMR CBGP - Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations
4 Dipartimento Agron Anim Alimenti Risorse Nat & Am,
5 Imamoglu Vocat Sch,
6 Lattakia Ctr Rearing Nat Enemie
7 Lab Sante Vegetaux, Unite Entomol & Plantes Invas,

Pseudococcus comstocki (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) is a mealybug species native to Eastern Asia and present as an invasive pest in northern Italy and southern France since the start of the century. It infests apple and pear trees, grapevines and some ornamental trees. Biocontrol programmes against this pest proved successful in central Asia and North America in the second half of the 20th century. In this study, we investigated possible bio-control agents against P. comstocki, with the aim of developing a biocontrol programme in France. We carried out systematic DNA-barcoding at each step in the search for a specialist parasitoid. First we characterised the French target populations of P. comstocki. We then identified the parasitoids attacking P. comstocki in France. Finally, we searched for foreign mealybug populations identified a priori as P. comstocki and surveyed their hymenopteran parasitoids. Three mealybug species (P. comstocki, P. viburni and P. cryptus) were identified during the survey, together with at least 16 different parasitoid taxa. We selected candidate biological control agent populations for use against P. comstocki in France, from the species Allotropa burrelli (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) and Acerophagus malinus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). The coupling of molecular and morphological characterisation for both pests and natural enemies facilitated the programme development and the rejection of unsuitable or generalist parasitoids.

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Thibaut Malausa, Mathilde Delaunay, Alexandre Fleisch, Geraldine Groussier, Sylvie Warot, et al.. Investigating biological control agents for controlling invasive populations of the Mealybug Pseudococcus comstocki in France. PLoS ONE, 2016, 11 (6), ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0157965⟩. ⟨hal-01604213⟩