Molecular determination of the predator community of a cassava whitefly in Colombia: pest-specific primer development and field validation

In South America, the whitefly Aleurotrachelus socialis is one of the principal pests of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), reaching high population levels throughout the Andean region. Management of this species is primarily based upon the use of insecticides, while biological control has received...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of pest science 2014-03, Vol.87 (1), p.125-131
Main Authors: Lundgren, Jonathan G, López-Lavalle, Luis Augusto Becerra, Parsa, Soroush, Wyckhuys, Kris A. G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Aleyrodidae
Araneae
Biological control
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cassava
Chrysopidae
Coccinellidae
Coleoptera
Communities
Condylostylus
Delphastus
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Diptera
DNA
Dolichopodidae
Ecology
Entomology
Forestry
Harmonia axyridis
Insecticides
Life Sciences
Lycidae
Manihot esculenta
Natural enemies
Neuroptera
Original Paper
Parasitoids
Pesticides
Pests
Plant Pathology
Plant Sciences
polymerase chain reaction
Population levels
Predators
production technology
Taxa
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In South America, the whitefly Aleurotrachelus socialis is one of the principal pests of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), reaching high population levels throughout the Andean region. Management of this species is primarily based upon the use of insecticides, while biological control has received limited attention. Till present, knowledge of A. socialis natural enemies is restricted to occasional records of predators and parasitoids. In this study, we developed PCR primer sets specific for the cassava whitefly, A. socialis, to identify their predator community in Colombian cassava. Eleven percent of 586 predator specimens (representing 131 taxa from 29 families) tested positive for cassava whitefly DNA. Of the 21 predator taxa that consumed cassava whiteflies, an unidentified netwing beetle (Lycidae), an unidentified spider species (Araneae), Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), a Cereaochrysa sp. (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), and a Leucochrysa sp. (Chrysopidae) were the taxa that consumed cassava whiteflies most frequently under field conditions. Two abundant predators in the system, Delphastus sp. (Coccinellidae) and the long-legged fly, Condylostylus sp. (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), were both positive for whitefly DNA, but did not have the strongest trophic linkage to the pest relative to other predators. This study shows that a diverse predator community affects cassava whitefly in southern Colombia, and provides the groundwork for the design of cassava production systems with minimal pesticide inputs.
ISSN:1612-4758
1612-4766
DOI:10.1007/s10340-013-0509-7