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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Insect Behavior and Biocontrol Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #361398
Research Project: Improved Biologically-Based Methods for Insect Pest Management of Crop Insect Pests

Location: Insect Behavior and Biocontrol Research

Title: Natural enemies of the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Ghana

Author
item KOFFI, DJIMA - University Of Ghana
item KYEREMATEN, ROSINA - University Of Ghana
item EZIAH, VINCENT - University Of Ghana
item AGBOKA, KOMI - University Of Lome
item ADOM, MEDETISSI - University Of Ghana
item GOERGEN, GEORG - Institut National Des Recherches Agricoles Du Benin (INRAB)
item Meagher, Robert - Rob

Submitted to: Florida Entomologist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/12/2019
Publication Date: 4/8/2020
Citation: Koffi, D., Kyerematen, R., Eziah, V.Y., Agboka, K., Adom, M., Goergen, G., Meagher Jr, R.L. 2020. Natural enemies of the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Ghana. Florida Entomologist. 103(1):85-90. https://doi.org/10.1653/024.103.0414.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1653/024.103.0414

Interpretive Summary: Fall armyworm (FAW) is native to the Western Hemisphere where it is found from southern Canada to southern Argentina and is considered a serious pest of maize, corn, grass and other crops. It was found in West Africa in 2016 and quickly spread to all countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The most common control measures employ insecticides or transgenic maize with Bt toxin genes to manage the FAW. However, both of these methods are expensive and beyond the economic resources of small farmer holders in Africa. A team of researchers from the West African nations of Ghana, Togo, and Benin, in collaboration with a researcher with USDA-ARS, Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, Florida, assessed the presence of natural enemies in different regions in Ghana in 2017 by collecting FAW caterpillars feeding on crops. Several insect parasites and predators were documented that were feeding on the FAW. These findings suggest a potential for the use of biological control to manage this serious pest of maize and other crops on the African continent.

Technical Abstract: The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is an invasive insect pest attacking maize in Ghana and in sub Saharan Africa countries. Biological control will need to be an important management strategy, and a first step was to identify potential natural enemies. Sampling was conducted in different localities of the ten regions of Ghana from May to November 2017. A total of 1,062 larvae were collected from 106 maize farms and the presence of natural enemies was recorded in 18 (17.0%) farms. Among natural enemies recorded, 7 species were parasitoids: Chelonus cf. maudae Huddleston, Coccygidium sp., Cotesia sp., Meteoridea testacea (Granger) and Bracon sp. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), Anatrichus erinaceus Loew (Diptera: Chloropidae) and an undetermined tachinid fly (Diptera: Tachinidae). The parasitism rate was 3.58%. Three predators species were collected, Pheidole megacephala (F.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Haematochares obsuripennis Stål and Peprius nodulipes (Signoret) (Heteroptera: Reduviidae). The two most abundance parasitoids were C. maudae and Coccygidium sp. with a relative abundance of 29.0% and 23.7% and a parasitism rate of 1.04% and 0.85%, respectively. However, C. maudae was the most dispersed parasitoid, found in 6.6% of the inspected sites within all the agroecological zones of Ghana. This species is a good candidate as a biological control agent for fall armyworm in Africa. The predator that was most abundant (46.0%) and dispersed (3.8% of the farms) was P. megacephala.