Assessing the host range of the North American parasitoid Ontsira mellipes: potential for biological control of Asian longhorned beetle

Authors: Wang, Xingeng; Aparicio, Ellen; MURPHY, THERESA - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS); Duan, Jian; ELKINTON, JOSEPH - University Of Massachusetts; GOULD, JULI - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

Submitted to: Biological Control
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/13/2019
Publication Date: 7/13/2019
Citation: Wang, X., Aparicio, E.M., Murphy, T.C., Duan, J.J., Elkinton, J.S., Gould, J.R. 2019. Assessing the host range of the North American parasitoid Ontsira mellipes: potential for biological control of Asian longhorned beetle. Biological Control. 137: 104028. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2019.104028.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2019.104028

Interpretive Summary: The Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) is a high-risk invasive insect pest native to China and Korea that attacks various hardwood trees. First detected in the late 1990s in North America, it is the subject of extensive ongoing quarantine and eradication efforts. The beetles can be difficult to detect, especially in large forested areas, and new introductions are possible. Biological control is a valuable option for reducing established and incipient populations in areas where intensive management methods such as chemical control are prohibitively expensive and/or environmentally undesirable. We assessed the host range of a common North American native parasitoid wasp of wood-boring insects, Ontsira mellipes, to determine whether it prefers to attack ALB over native beetles, and if the rearing host of the wasp changes its preference of host species. We also tested the wasp’s parasitism of the citrus longhorned beetle (CLB), a related high-risk invasive pest. The parasitoid readily attacked ALB, CLB, and three of the six North American longhorned beetle species tested. No preference was shown between ALB and the other host species that were attacked. Despite its relatively broad host range, O. mellipes may be useful for augmentative or conservation biological control against ALB in the U.S.

Technical Abstract: Asian longhorned beetle (ALB), Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is a high-risk, invasive pest of hardwood trees that has been targeted for eradication in the US since the 1990s. Ontsira mellipes Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a native North American parasitoid but has been found to be capable of attacking ALB larvae under laboratory conditions. To investigate O. mellipes’s potential as a new association biological control agent of A. glabripennis, we assessed the potential host range of this parasitoid with quarantine testing against A. glabripennis, six common North American cerambycid species (Elaphidion mucronatum (Say), Monochamus carolinensis Olivier, Monochamus notatus (Drury), Neoclytus scutellaris Olivier, Xylotrechus colonus (Fabricius), and Xylotrechus sagittatus Germar), and citrus longhorned beetle, Anoplophora chinensis Forster. Results of the study showed O. mellipes successfully attacked A. glabripennis, A. chinensis, E. mucronatum, M. carolinensis and M. notatus, but did not attack N. scutellaris, X. colonus and X. sagittatus, in both choice or no choice tests. Ontsira mellipes did not show a preference between A. glabripennis and other attacked host species, regardless of the rearing host species of the tested parasitoids. The number of progenies emerged per parasitized host larva was influenced by the attacked host species and by the interaction between the attacked host species and the size of attacked larvae. Neither host species nor the size of parasitized larvae influenced the sex ratio (˜ 80% females) of the parasitoids’ offspring. Parasitoid offspring developmental time was influenced by host species but not by sex. In terms of progeny fitness, the parasitoid preformed equally well on A. glabripennis as on native hosts such as M. carolinensis. Despite its relatively broad host range, we believe O. mellipes may have the potential for augmentative or conservation biological control against A. glabripennis in North America.