Insects (2021) 12 (1 - 65)

Yunlin Tang, Qingyan Li, Li Xiang, Ruocheng Gu, Yanyan Wu, Yonghong Zhang, Xingrong Bai, Xiaohui Niu, Tian Li, Junhong Wei, Guoqing Pan and Zeyang Zhou (2021)
First report on Megaselia scalaris Loew (Diptera: Phoridae) infestation of the invasive pest Spodoptera frugiperda Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in China
Insects 12 (1 - 65)
Abstract: The invasive pest Spodoptera frugiperda first emerged in China in January 2019 and has, to date, migrated to 29 provinces and municipalities in China, causing heavy crop damage in large areas. As a response to this invasive species from the environment, some indigenous natural enemies have been discovered and reported after S. frugiperda invasion. In this paper, parasitic flies were collected and identified from S. frugiperda collected in the Yunnan, Guangxi, and Henan provinces and the Chongqing municipality in China. By using both conventional and molecular approaches, we were able to show that all the parasitic flies of S. frugiperda identified in the four regions were Megaselia. scalaris, and that they attacked the pest larvae and pupae. This is the first report on an indigenous Chinese Megaselia species that has parasitic ability against the invasive pest S. frugiperda, potentially providing new ideas for pest control in China.
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Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
surveys/distribution/isolation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Spodoptera frugiperda	Maize/corn (Zea mays)	China (south)
	Spodoptera frugiperda	Maize/corn (Zea mays)	China (NE)
Megaselia scalaris (parasitoid)	Spodoptera frugiperda