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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 #367545
Research Project: Improved Biologically-Based Tactics to Manage Invasive Insect Pests and Weeds

Location: Insect Behavior and Biocontrol Research

Title: First record of Ooencyrtus nezarae (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), a parasitoid of Megacopta cribraria (Hemiptera: Plataspidae) in Florida

Author
item DIEDRICK, WORREL - Florida A & M University
item KANGA, LAMBERT - Florida A & M University
item HASEEB, MUHAMMAD - Florida A & M University
item Legaspi, Jesusa
item SRIVASTAVA, MRITTUNJAI - Florida Department Of Agriculture And Consumer Services

Submitted to: Florida Entomologist
Publication Type: Research Notes
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/8/2019
Publication Date: 7/10/2020
Citation: Diedrick, W., Kanga, L.H., Haseeb, M., Legaspi, J.C., Srivastava, M. 2020. First record of Ooencyrtus nezarae (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), a parasitoid of Megacopta cribraria (Hemiptera: Plataspidae) in Florida. Florida Entomologist. 103(2):293-295. https://doi.org/10.1653/024.103.0222.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1653/024.103.0222

Interpretive Summary: The kudzu bug is becoming a major insect pest of legumes such as soybean crops. This pest was first detected in Georgia in 2009 and has rapidly spread across the southeast USA. Scientists at the USDA-ARS-Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, Tallahassee, Florida, in collaboration with researchers at Florida A&M University surveyed egg masses of the kudzu bug for biological control agents. In this study, a previously unreported species of egg parasitoid wasp was found parasitizing kudzu eggs in Florida. The finding of this parasitoid wasp will provide a potential tool for the biological control of the kudzu bug and help mitigate loses of legume crops.

Technical Abstract: The kudzu bug is an important insect pest of legume plants such as soybean. During our study on egg parasitoids of the kudzu bug in Florida, we collected egg masses of M. cribraria on kudzu and catnip for laboratory rearing. We found a new egg parasitoid, Ooencyrtus nezarae for M. cribraria, and this represents the first Florida record of this parasitoid species. The wasp is widely distributed in Asia. It will strengthen biological control of the kudzu bug in Florida. Future studies will assess comparative parasitism levels of P. saccharalis and O. nezarae as well as the dynamics of populations of these biological control agents.