Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory
2020 Annual Report
Objectives
The long-term goal of this project is to study the systematics and natural history of parasitoid and phytophagous wasps to facilitate their identification, understand and predict their impact on agricultural commodities and products, and disseminate biosystematic information on them to an international clientele. Most species of Hymenoptera are beneficial natural enemies or pollinators, but some are plant pests or bio-control antagonists. This project will focus on chalcidoid, ichneumonoid, cynipoid, and platygastroid wasps, which are taxa of high priority to agriculture and for which the project investigators have expertise. Those groups are important to agriculture because they are useful for bio-control of pest insects and plants and also include species that cause damage to agricultural commodities and products or disrupt bio-control. In addition to conducting research on those groups, the investigators will develop expert systems to provide a broad community of customers increased access to information pertinent to beneficial natural enemies and pests. This project also includes an identification service function for regulatory and research organizations, as well as a curatorial service function for building and maintaining portions of the National Insect Collection (NIC) for use in specimen diagnostics and research. We will focus on the following objectives over the next five years:
Objective 1: Generate revised classifications, phylogenies, species concepts, natural history data and identification tools for wasps in the Cynipoidea, Chalcidoidea, Ichneumonoidea, and Platygastroidea lineages (the latter including Trissolcus wasps, which are important natural enemies of invasive stink bugs).
Objective 2: Compile, organize, and post on the web, searchable electronic databases of hymenopteran families in the U.S. National Insect and Mite Collection, tools, and images of parasitic and plant-feeding Hymenoptera. (non-hypothesis driven)
Objective 3: Provide accurate and efficient identifications of Hymenoptera for APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine and other federal and state regulatory agencies, ARS researchers, and stakeholders across the United States. (non-hypothesis driven)
Approach
Morphological and molecular characters (DNA sequences) will be generated to test species concepts and hypotheses of relationship among agriculturally important flies and parasitoid wasps that attack them. These data will be used to develop new diagnostic tools (descriptions, illustrations, keys). Databases containing scientific names, distributions, taxonomic literature, and host plant and specimen data pertaining to fruit flies will be expanded and disseminated to the user community. These and other taxonomic tools will be made accessible to the public via publications, the internet, and other electronic media. Timely and accurate identifications of flies will be provided, including those intercepted at ports-of-entry by APHIS-PPQ or submitted by a wide range of scientists and regulatory agencies, and portions of the National Collection in the National Museum of Natural History, a vital tool for research and identification, will be maintained and expanded.
Progress Report
This is a final report for 8042-22000-289-00D. The new project plan is currently finishing up NP304 OSQR Review.
2015-2020 Objective 1. Generate revised classifications, phylogenies, species concepts, natural history data and identification tools for wasps in the Cynipoidea, Chalcidoidea, Ichneumonoidea, and Platygastroidea lineages (the latter including Trissolcus wasps, which are important natural enemies of invasive stink bugs). Partial milestone completeness was the result of a gap in technical support due to retirement.
Revisionary systematics of Leptopilina and Trissolcus (Buffington). All milestones for this project were met. The final publication on the Trissolcus project was a phylogeny of Trissolcus species that attack BMSB and relatives. By the end of this project, species of Trissolcus from western Europe, North America, and Asia can all be readily identified to species. Furthermore, this fundamental research was leveraged for identifying the first record of Trissolcus japonicus in the continental U.S. The concerted research project on Trissolcus was featured in American Entomologist, and the cover of the same publication featured an image taken by our lab. Research on Leptopilina lagged slightly behind Trissolcus, but an inventory of the North American species was completed, along with a key to species and a new phylogeny of species. This project was completed just in time for new research in the Pacific Northwest on putative Asian species of Leptopilina that have made landfall in North America.
Systematics of plant-feeding Eurytomidae and Eulophidae: Milestones for this project were completely or partially met. Milestones at 12 and 24 months were met both through specimen acquisition via collaborator network and travel to the Neotropics for the purpose of collecting. Several genera and the species therein were prepared, identified, and characterized. Milestones at 36, 48, and 60 months were partially met. Projects related to the biological control of various invasive plants and/or insects emerged and required redirection of research effort. The initial conception of the number of specimens that could be processed to make them available for inclusion in research publications fell short, though many were processed and have been published or remain in the process of completion.
Revisionary systematics of Symphya: Milestones for this portion of Objective 1 ranged from substantially met to not met. Progress that was made toward revisionary systematics of Symphya in months 24-48 included acquisition of DNA sequence data (i.e., mitochondrial COI, ribosomal 28S D2-D3) for five species, imaging via light microscopy for 12 species, and 206 specimens sorted into morphospecies and identified to species. Additionally, in months 36-60 sequences from 193-1,658 loci were obtained from each of 30 species via the UCE phylogenomic pipeline. Projects related to biocontrol of invasive insects and plants emerged that required the redirection of time and resources toward research on those invasive species.
2015-2020 Objective 2. The second objective of the current project was to develop new bioinformatics systems that provide data on parasitic and plant-feeding wasps. Accomplishments from this are as follows. We developed two websites to disseminate biosystematic information to customers worldwide: (1) “Chalcidkey” (www.codex.begoniasociety.org/chalcidkey/), an online key to subfamilies of Chalcidoidea expanded from a dichotomous key published previously in a paper-based journal and (2) “Hymenoptera Holotypes of the Smithsonian Institution” (www.USNMHymtypes.org), a database of digital images and biosystematic information for non-aculeate hymenopteran species-group names with primary type specimens in the NIC. We also contributed content to “WaspWeb” (www.waspweb.org), a bioinformatics resource for wasps recorded from the Afrotropical Region. “WaspWeb” includes interactive keys (Penev et al. 2009) for several hymenopteran groups, including Chalcidoidea, Ichneumonoidea, and Cynipoidea. Another accomplishment from project Objective 2 was the biennial offering of a training course focused on the taxonomy, biology, and identification of Hymenoptera. Instructors for the course consisted of the investigators on this plan and scientists at the American Entomological Institute (Gainesville, Florida), the Canadian National Collection of Insects (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), the University of California-Davis (Davis, California), the University of Kentucky (Lexington, Kentucky), Utah State University (Logan, Utah), and George Washington University (Washington, DC). It was designed to deliver biosystematic information to researchers studying beneficial and pest hymenopterans, as well as pest management and regulatory personnel. It was offered in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 and has served nearly 200 customers from 17 countries. The Hymenoptera project scientists also oversaw the rehousing and databasing of 21,162 ethanol specimens of sawflies (larvae and adults) and ants, the single most comprehensive collection of such material in world; the project also oversaw the imaging of primary holotypes of the NMNH Hymenoptera collection, totaling 25,832 images with all data associated with each image contained in the NMNH (National Museum of Natural History) specimen database.
2015-2020 Objective 3. The third objective of the project was to provide expert Hymenoptera identifications and curatorial services in the NIC. Notable accomplishments from project objective three are as follows. We identified 17,257 specimens representing 4,259 lots, including 1,822 specimens/lots that required urgent identification; accessioned 500,000 specimens into the NMNH; processed 415 loan requests and returns for specimens in the NMNH; and reorganized specimens in 480 drawers (310,000 specimens) in the NMNH. The aforementioned accomplishments are relevant because specimens accessioned into the NMNH, including those acquired from identification requests, were used for all objectives in the project. Further, curation of the NMNH, including specimen loans to specialists worldwide and reorganization given nomenclatural changes, resulted in a larger proportion of determined specimens that were accessed rapidly for use in the project.
Progress on peripheral projects and baseline research for the next 5-year plan. Progress was made on a joint project with other scientists in Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. that has resulted in the first phylogenomic analysis of Hymenoptera relationships, as well as spin off projects on the phylogenomics of Braconidae, Ichneumonidae, Cynipoidea, Platygastroidea, Ceraphronoidea and Chalcidoidea. These big data projects include over 4,000 species of Hymenoptera and 210,000 base pairs of data, requiring super computers to analyze. The resulting trees are the most accurate in Hymenoptera research, providing a predictive power to understanding beneficial insects and their control of pests, as well as pestiferous species that threaten agriculture. Progress was made on the identification and distribution of parasitoid species that attack spotted-wing Drosophila (SWD) throughout North America, Mexico southeast Asia, and Western Europe, and a paper is nearing publication. This includes a new species being described that is associated with SWD, first records of species attacking SWD in North America, and an updated species-level phylogeny that now circumscribes species of Leptopilina that attack SWD. Progress was made to generate interaction networks for plants, caterpillars, and parasitic insects in North America. This consisted of collaboration with four researchers (3 domestic institutions) on community dynamics for plants, caterpillars, and their associated parasitoids in eastern U.S. forests. Records of 397 interactions were compiled; the quality of each interaction record was assessed for use in generating quantitative interaction networks. Progress was made toward discerning species limits for braconid wasps in a genus containing cryptic species. This research consists of a collaboration among four researchers in SEL to obtain morphological and molecular data for species delimitation, as well as develop tools for species identification. Sequence data quality assessments were carried out for 147 specimens, and phylogenetic analyses were conducted to circumscribe the specimens into species. The utility of morphological characters for species delimitation was assessed given the resulting molecular phylogenies. Progress was made on determining the diversity of parasitoid wasps near crop fields in northern Virginia. Wasp specimens were sampled in grassland habitat near organic fruit and vegetable fields to discover novel parasitoid wasp diversity and determine the occurrence of natural enemies important for biocontrol of crop pests. Approximately 15,600 specimens were pulled from 24 insect trap samples; 1,800 specimens were prepared for identification and deposited into the NMNH.
Accomplishments
1. Researching taxonomic and bionomic data on wasps helps protect U.S. agricultural interests. Parasitic wasps attack pest insects that cause billions of dollars of damage to crops and natural resources annually. They also attack beneficial natural enemies and are pests when they disrupt biocontrol. ARS researchers at Beltsville, Maryland, focused on some 200 various species of parasitic wasps associated with: stink bugs that eat major food crops in the U.S. and infest homes; flies that eat strawberry and blackberry; herbivorous and wood-boring insects in U.S. forests that feed on trees and kill them; plant-feeding insects in grasslands adjacent to crop fields; invasive spiders in Europe; and fire ants that disturb livestock. Along with clarifying identification, new biological attributes and host records were discovered for wasps important to agriculture and natural resources. Correct identification of biological control agents, as well as an understanding of their biological role in mitigating pestiferous species populations, is essential for making rearing and quarantine decisions in the protection of U.S. agricultural interests worldwide.
Review Publications
Bon, M., Talamas, E., Hoelmer, K.A., Buffington, M.L. 2019. Molecular phylogeny of Trissolcus wasps (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae), natural enemies of stink bugs. Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 73:201-217.
Vandenberg, N.J. 2019. A new monotypic genus and new species of lady beetle (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae: Coccinellini) from western South America. Zootaxa. 4712(3):413-422.
Adamski, D., Gates, M.W., Torrens, J., Fidalgo, P., Kula, R.R., Buffington, M.L. 2018. Immature stages of Scrobipalpula patagonica Povolný (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae: Gnorimoschemini), a gall inducer of Suaeda divaricata Moq. (Amaranthaceae) in Argentina with a summary of its parasitoids. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 120(4):659-669.
Broadley, H.J., Kula, R.R., Boettner, G.H., Andersen, J.C., Griffin, B., Elkinton, J.S. 2019. Recruitment of native parasitic wasps to populations of the invasive winter moth in the Northeastern United States. Biological Invasions. 21:2871-2890.
Cruaud, A., Delvare, G., Nidelet, S., Saune, L., Ratnasingham, S., Chartois, M., Blaimer, B., Gates, M.W., Brady, S.J., Faure, S., Van Noort, S., Rossi, J.P., Rasplus, J.Y. 2020. Ultra-Conserved Elements and morphology reciprocally illuminate conflicting phylogenetic hypotheses in Chalcididae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea). Cladistics. 1-35.
Figueroa, J., Sanchez-Garcia, J., Pineda, S., Martinez, A., Kula, R.R. 2019. Two new species of Coelinius Nees (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Alysiinae) from Mexico. Zootaxa. 4664(4):559-564.
Golec, J.R., Aparicio, E.M., Wang, X., Duan, J.J., Fuester, R.W., Tatman, D.M., Kula, R.R. 2020. Cerambycid communities and their associated hymenopteran parasitoids from major hardwood trees in Delaware, USA: implications for biocontrol of invasive longhorned beetles. Environmental Entomology. https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvz169.
King, K., Mottern, J.L., Shimbori, E., Kula, R.R. 2018. Braconidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) from Mount Desert Island and Schoodic Peninsula areas of Acadia National Park, including a new species of Clinocentrus Haliday (Rogadinae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 120(3):549-567.
Zemenick, A.T., Kula, R.R., Russo, L., Tooker, J. 2018. A network approach reveals parasitoid wasps to be generalized nectar foragers. Arthropod-Plant Interactions. 13(2):239-251.
Priest, R.J., Kula, R.R., Gates, M.W. 2020. Leaf mining insects and their parasitoids in the old-growth forest of the Huron Mountains. Great Lakes Entomologist. 52(3-4):117-160.
Valenzuela Ecoboza, F.O., Palacios Torres, R., Cortez Mondaca, E., Buffington, M.L., Lomeli Flores, J., Valdez Carrasco, J. 2020. Species of Eucoilinae Associated with Agromyzidae in Mexico. Southwestern Entomologist. 44:705-714.
