Journal of Economic Entomology (2017) 110, 2010-2015

Luísa Oliveira, Ana C. Durão, João Fontes, Inês S. Roja and João Tavares (2017)
Potential of Trichogramma achaeae (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) in biological control of Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in Azorean greenhouse tomato crops
Journal of Economic Entomology 110 (5), 2010-2015
Abstract: Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is an important pest of tomato crops. It is native to South America and has rapidly extended its range into Mediterranean countries. The parasitoid Trichogramma achaeae Nagaraja and Nagarkatti (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) has been recommended as a possible biological control agent of this invasive pest. The pest and parasitoid were accidentally introduced into the Azores Islands and became well-established owing to the climate conditions of the region. During an undertaken survey to determine the presence of natural parasitism, 2.5% of the T. absoluta eggs were found to be parasitized by Tr. achaeae, and no other egg parasitoid was observed. Other Trichogramma species, Trichogramma cordubensis Vargas and Cabello, was also selected to test, along with Tr. achaeae, against T. absoluta on caged tomato plants (microhabitats), and the effectiveness of these parasitoids in limiting the T. absoluta populations was assessed. The results revealed that Tr. achaeae had a high parasitism and emergence rate (29.6% and 65.9%, respectively), relative to those rates observed for T. cordubensis (6.1% and 39.3%, respectively). Greenhouse assays were also carried out between May and July in 2013 and 2014 on commercially produced tomatoes with the aim of evaluating the potential of Tr. achaeae mass releases for the control of T. absoluta under these conditions. In the second year, we observed a reduction in the mean number of leaf mines and of eggs, larvae, and pupae of T. absoluta per leaflet, and an increase in the Tr. achaeae parasitism rate.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
(original language: English)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Luisa Oliveira

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
evaluation - screening - selection
surveys/distribution/isolation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Phthorimaea absoluta	Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)	Portugal (Azores)
Trichogramma achaeae (parasitoid)	Phthorimaea absoluta	Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)	Portugal (Azores)