Egg parasitoids of Edessa meditabunda (Fabricius) (Pentatomidae) in lettuce crop

Egg parasitoids of Edessa meditabunda (Fabricius) (Pentatomidae) in lettuce crop

Bruna M. Favetti^{I, II}; Diones Krinski^I,1; Alessandra R. Butnariu^II; Marta S. Loiácono^III

^IPrograma de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Laboratório de Controle Integrado de Insetos, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Caixa Postal 19020, 81581–580 Curitiba, PR, Brazil. [e-mail]

^IILaboratório de Entomologia do Centro de Pesquisas, Estudos em Desenvolvimento Agro-Ambientais (CPEDA), Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, 78300–000 Tangará da Serra, MT, Brazil. [e-mail]

^IIIDivisón Entomología, Museo de La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, 1900, La Plata, Argentina. [e-mail]

ABSTRACT

Egg parasitoids of Edessa meditabunda (Fabricius) (Pentatomidae) in lettuce crop. This study evaluated the occurrence of parasitoids in eggs of the stink bug, Edessa meditabunda (Fabricius, 1794) (Heteroptera, Pentatomidae) found on lettuce crop in Mato Grosso State, Brazil. Samples were collected in the vegetable garden "Cheiro Verde", in the municipality of Tangará da Serra, in curly lettuce. A bed of lettuce was selected randomly, where the eggs of E. meditabunda were collected. Five-hundred and seventy eight eggs of E. meditabunda were collected, 86.3% of them parasitized by Telenomus podisi Ashmead, 1893 (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae), Trissolcus urichi Crawford, 1913 (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae) and Neorileya albipes Girault, 1913 (Hymenoptera, Eurytomidae), representing respectively 57.0%, 38.2% and 4.8% of the emerged individuals. This is the first record of these three species parasitizing eggs of E. meditabunda in lettuce.

Keywords: Biological control; Eurytomidae; Neorileya albipes; Platygastridae; Telenomus podisi.

Lettuce is the most appreciated vegetable for consumption in natura in Brazil (Moretti & Mattos 2006). For this reason, this culture has a great economic importance. Insect pests attacking vegetable crops is a common problem found by farmers, because various species find optimal conditions for survival on these crops (Cortez & Teixeira 2005; Imenes et al. 2000).

Several pentatomid species attacking plant crops have been recorded in horticulture (Panizzi 2000). A study carried out in the state of Mato Grosso showed the occurrence of Edessa meditabunda (Fabricius, 1794) (Heteroptera, Pentatomidae) on lettuce. The authors found 1099 adults from September to November (Krinski et al. 2012). Krinski & Pelissari (2012) found this species of stink bug attacking four types (cultivars) of lettuce in the state of Pará. These studies show that E. meditabunda is a potential insect pest, especially in vegetable gardens (Krinski 2013).

There are many natural enemies that act efficiently in the regulation of insects, in lettuce crops, such as several species of predators of the orders Coleoptera, Diptera and Neuroptera (Riquelme 1997). However, studies with parasitoids of the order Hymenoptera are scarce. Therefore, this study evaluated the occurrence of egg parasitoids of the stinkbug E. meditabunda in a lettuce crop.

The surveys were accomplished in the vegetable garden "Cheiro Verde" (14º37'13"S and 57º28'46"W) located in the central region of Tangará da Serra, state of Mato Grosso, on curly lettuce, in September, October and November 2009. A bed (about 40 m x 1,25 m) was selected randomly and eggs of E. meditabunda were collected and recorded.

The eggs were placed in Petri dishes with moistened paper towel and maintained at 26 ± 1ºC, photophase of 14 hours. The emerged parasitoids were counted and stored in 70% ethanol. Voucher specimens were sent for identification and deposited in the entomological collection of the Museo de La Plata, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Five-hundred and seventy eight eggs of E. meditabunda were collected, 86.3% of them parasitized by Telenomus podisi Ashmead, 1893 (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae), Trissolcus urichi Crawford, 1913 (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae) and Neorileya albipes Girault, 1913(Hymenoptera, Eurytomidae), representing respectively 57.0%, 38.2% and 4.8% of the emerged individuals.

This is the first record of T. podisi parasitizing eggs of E. meditabunda in the state of Mato Grosso. Nevertheless, these parasitoids were found in eggs of other pentatomids in soybeans, such as Nezara viridula (Linnaeus, 1758), Dichelops melacanthus (Dallas,1851), Euschistus heros (Fabricius, 1798), Thyanta perditor (Fabricius, 1794), Piezodorus guildinii (Westwood, 1873), Podisus connexivus Bergroth, 1891 and Podisus nigrispinus (Dallas, 1851) (Corrêa-Ferreira & Moscardi 1995; Medeiros et al. 1997ab; Pacheco & Corrêa-Ferreira 2000; Godoy et al. 2005).

Regarding T. urichii, there are records of this species parasitizing eggs of E. meditabunda and other stinkbugs in soybeans, such as E. heros, P. guildini, P. nigrispinus, T. perditor and Acrosternum aseadum Rolston 1983 (Corrêa-Ferreira & Moscardi 1995; Medeiros et al. 1997a). However, this is the first report of its occurrence in lettuce.

Species of Neorileya were found in eggs of E. meditabunda (Medeiros et al. 1997b), E. heros and P. guildinii in soybeans (Godoy et al. 2005) and Holhymenia rubiginosa Breddin, 1904, in passion fruit (Kolberg 2007), whereas Neorileya ashmeadi Crawford 1913, was found parasitizing eggs of the coreids Spartocera dentiventris (Berg, 1884) in tobacco (Santos et al. 2001; Canto-Silva & Romanowski 2003) and Leptoglossus gonagra (Fabricius, 1775) (Maes & Goellner-Scheiding 1993). For N. albipes, this is the first report in E. meditabunda eggs in lettuce, although it has been found by Golin et al. (2011) in this same host on the rattlepod, Crotalaria spectabilis Roth 1821 (Leguminosae).

The percentage of natural parasitism found in this study was high, showing the great activity of native parasitoids on eggs of E. meditabunda. Thus, the preservation of natural enemies is indispensable in order to establish biological balance and to reduce production costs (Bueno 2005). This demonstrates that conservation of natural enemies is a very important practice, especially because lettuce is one of the crops that most require pesticides (Anvisa 2011).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors acknowledge the Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, Campus Universitário de Tangará da Serra (UNEMAT/CUTS), Zoology Laboratory of Centro de Pesquisas, Estudos e Desenvolvimento Agro-Ambientais (CPEDA) of UNEMAT for financial support; and also the owners of the vegetable garden "Cheiro Verde", Marcia Neitzke and Vilson Florentino for allowing this research on their property. We also thank the researches Cecilia B. Margaría and Daniel A. Aquino, for assisting in the taxonomic identification and deposit of voucher specimens at the entomological collection of the Museo de La Plata.

Received 7 December 2012; accepted 12 March 2013

Associate Editor: Marcel G. Hermes

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  18 June 2013
• Date of issue
  June 2013

History

• Received
  07 Dec 2012
• Accepted
  12 Mar 2013