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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Newark, Delaware » Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #384650
Research Project: Biology, Ecology, Genetics, and Genomics of Introduced Species for Biological Control of Invasive and Other Insect Pests

Location: Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit

Title: Reproductive traits of the egg parasitoid Aprostocetus fukutai a promising biological control agent for invasive citrus longhorned beetle Anoplophora chinensis

Author
item Wang, Xingeng
item RAMUALDE, NATHALIE - European Biological Control Laboratory (EBCL)
item DESURMONT, GAYLORD - European Biological Control Laboratory (EBCL)
item Smith, Lincoln
item Gundersen-Rindal, Dawn
item Grodowitz, Michael

Submitted to: BioControl
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/28/2021
Publication Date: 10/12/2021
Citation: Wang, X., Ramualde, N., Desurmont, G., Smith, L., Gundersen, D.E., Grodowitz, M.J. 2021. Reproductive traits of the egg parasitoid Aprostocetus fukutai a promising biological control agent for invasive citrus longhorned beetle Anoplophora chinensis. Biocontrol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-021-10118-2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-021-10118-2

Interpretive Summary: The citrus longhorned beetle (CLB) is a high-risk invasive pest of hardwoods. Native to East Asia, CLB has been frequently intercepted in shipments of live plants to North America. Although no invasive population has yet established in North America, new introductions are an ongoing concern. We studied the reproductive biology of a promising parasitic wasp that is native to East Asia and attacks CLB eggs. Our results will help to optimize methods for the rearing of the wasp. Having effective biological control agents already available will provide a sustainable and affordable tool to rapidly help manage this pest if it becomes established in North America.

Technical Abstract: Aprostocetus fukutai (Miwa & Sonan) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) is the only known egg parasitoid of the citrus longhorned beetle Anoplophora chinensis Forster (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), a high-risk invasive pest of hardwoods. Native to East Asia, A. fukutai has been accidently introduced, likely within parasitized A. chinensis eggs, in Northern Italy. As part of the efforts to develop a biological control program using this specialist parasitoid, this study investigated some of the parasitoid’s key reproductive traits, including egg maturation dynamics, host egg age preference and lifetime fecundity under suitable quarantine conditions. Adult females emerged with a substantial proportion (43.7%) of their lifetime complement of mature eggs, and matured eggs rapidly, reaching a peak 4–8 days post-eclosion. The parasitoid preferred to attack 1–3 days old over 4–7 or 7–10 days old host eggs. This gregarious parasitoid has 1–2 generations per year (part of the first generation develops into a second summer generation), overwinters as diapausing mature larvae within host eggs, and adults emerge in early summer in synchrony with the egg deposition of its host. Progeny of the first generation were more fecund than those of the second generation. On average, females of the first and second generations parasitized 3.6 and 2.8 hosts, produced 11.2 and 9.6 offspring per parasitized host, and totals of 31.6 and 25.8 offspring with sex ratios of 85.3 and 82.8% females over their lifetime, respectively. These results provide novel information that may help improve protocols for future rearing, study, or field-release of this parasitoid against A. chinensis.