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Title: Field observations in central Turkey on Lasiosina deviata Nartshuk, a chloropid stem boring fly and potential biological control agent of Lepidium latifolium

Author
item HAYAT, RUTSEM - Suleyman Demirel University
item CRISTOFARO, MASSIMO - Biotechnology And Biological Control Agency
item DI CRISTINA, FRANCA - Biotechnology And Biological Control Agency
item PAOLINI, ALESSANDRA - Biotechnology And Biological Control Agency
item GERBER, ESTHER - Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau International (CABI) - Switzerland
item Rector, Brian

Submitted to: European Weed Research Society Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/8/2013
Publication Date: 6/26/2013
Citation: Hayat, R., Cristofaro, M., Di Cristina, F., Paolini, A., Gerber, E., Rector, B.G. 2013. Field observations in central Turkey on Lasiosina deviata Nartshuk, a chloropid stem boring fly and potential biological control agent of Lepidium latifolium. In: European Weed Research Society Symposium Proceedings, June 24-27, 2013, Samsun, Turkey. 16:23.

Interpretive Summary: Perennial pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium, 'PPW') is an alien invasive weed that is particularly problematic in wetlands and along river banks in the western USA. It is native to southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, and central Asia and has been chosen as the target of a USDA-ARS classical biological control program. In-country collaborators from the native range of PPW have collected natural enemies of the weed and prioritized several of these for intensive biological studies to determine their appropriateness for importation into the USA to control PPW. A stem-mining fly, Lasiosina deviata, is one of the high-priority biocontrol candidates under study. This presentation summarizes host-range tests conducted on this fly that indicate that it is limited to host plants within the genus Lepidium. Further studies are planned to more precisely describe its host range within this genus due to the presence of native American Lepidium species in the invaded range of PPW.

Technical Abstract: Perennial pepperweed (PPW), Lepidium latifolium L. (syn.: Cardaria latifolium), (Brassicaceae) is a herbaceous, semi-woody perennial weed, native of Central Asia, that typically reaches 0.5–1.5 m in height and reproduces vegetatively and by seed. The weed is often associated with mesic habitats, such as river banks, drainage ditches, and subirrigated pastures and hay meadows. However, it can invade a wide range of habitats including pastures, open fields, roadsides and residential areas. PPW is highly competitive and invasions result in dense monocultures and subsequent loss of biodiversity through the exclusion of native vegetation and eliminating shading for fish and aquatic insects. Starting from 2007, CABI and BBCA decided to share resources and collaborate closely in their effort towards developing a biological control program for L. latifolium. Consequently, field surveys have been conducted in Eastern Europe, Asia Minor and Central Asia. Several potential candidate agents have been detected and screened for their host specificity: among them, four have been selected, two weevils, an eriophyid mite, and a stem boring fly, for their potential high host specificity. In particular, the stem boring chloropid fly Lasiosina deviata was recorded very often in large numbers in Central Turkey, North-Western China and South-Eastern Kazakhstan. The high fitness of the fly species, and the close cooperation with Turkish Universities, allowed us to perform a research plan with this candidate agent: biological notes, field observations and host range tests have been carried out in Cappadocia, Central Turkey to record biological data and to evaluate the host specificity of L. deviata. Oviposition and host suitability larval survival tests were carried both in no-choice and choice conditions, followed by open field host-range tests, confirming the strict monophagous behavior of the species, associated only to plants belonging to the genus Lepidium.