Comperiella bifasciata

Comperiella bifasciata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Encyrtidae
Genus:	Comperiella
Species:	C. bifasciata
Binomial name
	Comperiella bifasciata; Howard, 1906

Last updated November 17, 2019

Comperiella bifasciata is a parasitic wasp species in the genus Comperiella in the family Encyrtidae. It is used in biological control of California red scale and yellow scale of citrus.

Comperiella is a genus of parasitic wasps in the family Encyrtidae, containing around 10 species.

Encyrtidae is a large family of parasitic wasps, with some 3710 described species in about 455 genera. The larvae of the majority are primary parasitoids on Hemiptera, though other hosts are attacked, and details of the life history can be variable. They are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats, and are extremely important as biological control agents. They may also present as an ecological threat to the population of some species. For example, the endangered Papilio homerus butterfly is parasitized at a rate of 77%. Parasitic wasps are the main contributor to egg mortality in the butterfly species.

Biological pest control Method of controlling pests using other living organisms

Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests such as insects, mites, weeds and plant diseases using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also involves an active human management role. It can be an important component of integrated pest management (IPM) programs.

Description

Comperiella bifasciata is a tiny black wasp with two white bars on the head. These are more prominent in females, which also have dark patches on the wings, giving them the appearance of having a forked tail; the wings of males are unblotched.^[1]

History

C. bifasciata is a parasite of the red scale (Aonidiella aurantii), a major insect pest of citrus. This pest was accidentally brought into the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century, and is known there as California red scale.^[2]

Aonidiella aurantii or red scale is an armored scale insect and a major pest of citrus. It is thought to be a native of South China but has been widely dispersed by the agency of man through the movement of infected plant material. In the United States it is known as California red scale. It was first found in California between 1868 and 1875, apparently brought there on planting material imported from Australia.

In attempts to try to control the red scale, in 1908 Comperiella bifasciata, and two other parasitic wasps, were introduced into California from Japan. It failed to become established on red scale but was found by 1931 to have become established on yellow scale (Aonidiella citrina). It was later established that an error had been made and that it was not parasitising Aonidiella aurantii in Japan, but rather Aonidiella taxus and Chrysomphalus bifasciculatus . When imports of a different biological race were made from China between 1947 and 1949, the parasite did become established on red scale in California.^[3]

Aonidiella citrina or yellow scale is an armored scale insect from the family Diaspididae. It feeds by sucking sap from plants in a number of plant families, but is mostly known for being a pest of citrus.

These two types are identical in appearance and will hybridise in the laboratory, but maintain their separate identities in the field. In the San Joaquin Valley, wasps reared from yellow scale are always of the Japanese type while those raised from red scale are the Chinese type. It seems that the hybrid is not so well adapted as either of its parents, so natural selection eliminates it, thereby preserving the two distinct types.^[4]

The San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven counties of Northern and one of Southern California, including, in the north, all of San Joaquin and Kings counties, most of Stanislaus, Merced, and Fresno counties, and parts of Madera and Tulare counties, along with a majority of Kern County, in Southern California. Although a majority of the valley is rural, it does contain cities such as Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton, Modesto, Turlock, Tulare, Porterville, Visalia, Merced, and Hanford.

Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charles Darwin popularised the term "natural selection", contrasting it with artificial selection, which in his view is intentional, whereas natural selection is not.

Ecology

The larva of C. bifasciata is an endoparasite. The adult female seeks out third instar and fourth instar female scale insects, but is prepared to oviposit in any stage except females that have already produced crawlers. Each egg is laid singly and the developing larva feeds inside its host as it grows. When it pupates, black meconium pellets are deposited and get pushed to one side under the scale. When it emerges, the wasp chews a jagged-edged hole through the scale's body and scale. The mummified corpse of the scale insect, with black meconium deposits inside, usually remains stuck to the host plant.^[1]

An instar is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (ecdysis), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form. Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions, colors, patterns, changes in the number of body segments or head width. After moulting, i.e. shedding their exoskeleton, the juvenile arthropods continue in their life cycle until they either pupate or moult again. The instar period of growth is fixed; however, in some insects, like the salvinia stem-borer moth, the number of instars depends on early larval nutrition. Some arthropods can continue to moult after sexual maturity, but the stages between these subsequent moults are generally not called instars.

Meconium substance of earliest stools of mammalian infants

Meconium is the earliest stool of a mammalian infant. Unlike later feces, meconium is composed of materials ingested during the time the infant spends in the uterus: intestinal epithelial cells, lanugo, mucus, amniotic fluid, bile and water. Meconium, unlike later feces, is viscous and sticky like tar, its color usually being a very dark olive green; it is almost odorless. When diluted in amniotic fluid, it may appear in various shades of green, brown, or yellow. It should be completely passed by the end of the first few days after birth, with the stools progressing toward yellow.

A mummy is a deceased human or an animal whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay further if kept in cool and dry conditions. Some authorities restrict the use of the term to bodies deliberately embalmed with chemicals, but the use of the word to cover accidentally desiccated bodies goes back to at least 1615 AD.

Use in biological control

In California, the most important parasite of yellow scale is C. bifasciata.^[5] The California red scale is most easily controlled by using the ectoparasite Aphytis , with C. bifasciata being unable to compete with Aphytis because the latter consumes the scale larvae including any developing C. bifasciata larvae that happens to be inside.^[1] However, in inland climates, such as in the San Joaquin Valley, Aphytis is less suitable for use and C. bifasciata is more effective.^[6]

Related Research Articles

The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. Over 1300 species have been described in North America alone. Insects in this family commonly are called tachinid flies or simply tachinids. As far as is known, they all are protelean parasitoids, or occasionally parasites, of arthropods, usually other insects. The family is known from many habitats in all zoogeographical regions and is especially diverse in South America.

The light brown apple moth is a leafroller moth belonging to the lepidopteran family Tortricidae.

Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causing the death of these hosts. Different species specialise in hosts from different insect orders, most often Lepidoptera, though some select beetles, flies, or bugs; the spider wasps (Pompilidae) exclusively attack spiders.

The giant swallowtail is the largest butterfly in North America. It is abundant through many parts of eastern North America; populations from western North America and down into Panama are now considered to belong to a different species, Papilio rumiko. Though it is often valued in gardens for its striking appearance, its larval stage can be a serious pest to citrus farms, which has earned its caterpillars the names orange dog or orange puppy. The giant swallowtail caterpillars possess remarkable camouflage from predators by closely resembling bird droppings. They use this, along with their osmeteria, to defend against predators such as wasps, flies, and vertebrates.

Diaspididae is the largest family of scale insects with over 2650 described species in around 400 genera. As with all scale insects, the female produces a waxy protective scale beneath which it feeds on its host plant. Diaspidid scales are far more substantial than those of most other families, incorporating the exuviae from the first two nymphal instars and sometimes faecal matter and fragments of the host plant. These can be complex and extremely waterproof structures rather resembling a suit of armor. For this reason these insects are commonly referred to as armored scale insects. As it is so robust and firmly attached to the host plant, the scale often persists long after the insect has died.

Technomyrmex albipes, commonly known as the white-footed ant, is a species of ant first described in 1861 from Sulawesi, Indonesia by the British entomologist Frederick Smith. Invasive pest ants in Florida, previously identified as T. albipes, have now been separated as Technomyrmex difficilis, both forming part of a species complex with a worldwide distribution.

Aphytis melinus is an internal parasite of the California red scale, Aonidiella aurantii, which is a pest of citrus in California and elsewhere. This chalcid wasp drums its antennae against the scale insect to find out if it is healthy, if it is already parasitized, how large it is, etc., to decide how to use this prey. It has four choices : leave the scale to keep searching, feed directly on the scale, use the scale as a host for a male A. melinus, or use the scale for a female A. melinus.

Aleurocanthus woglumi is a species of whitefly in the family Aleyrodidae. It is a pest of citrus crops, and is commonly known as the citrus blackfly because of its slate-blue colour. It originated in Asia, but has spread to other parts of the world. The parasitic wasps, Encarsia perplexa and Amitus hesperidum can help control the pest.

Encarsia is a large genus of minute parasitic wasps of the family Aphelinidae. The genus is very diverse with currently about 400 described species and worldwide distribution. The number of existing species is expected to be several times higher because many species are still undescribed. Encarsia is a very complex genus, with specimens showing both inter- and intra-specific variations, making morphological classification difficult.

The Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri, is a sap-sucking, hemipteran bug in the family Liviidae. It is an important pest of citrus, as it is one of only two confirmed vectors of the serious citrus greening disease. It is widely distributed in southern Asia and has spread to other citrus growing regions.

Spathius agrili is a parasitic non-stinging wasp of family Braconidae which is native to North Asia. It is a parasitoid of the emerald ash borer, an invasive species which has destroyed tens of millions of ash trees in its introduced range in North America. As part of the campaign against the emerald ash borer (EAB), American scientists in conjunction with the Chinese Academy of Forestry began searching in 2003 for its natural enemies in the wild, leading to the discovery of several parasitoid wasp species, including Spathius agrili. S. agrili was discovered in Tianjin, China where it is a prevalent prevalent parasitoid of EAB larvae in stands of an introduced ash species, and an endemic ash species. S. agrili has been recorded to attack and kill up to 90 percent of EAB larvae.

<i>Tamarixia radiata</i> species of insect

Tamarixia radiata, the Asian citrus cyllid parasitoid, is an hymenopteran wasp from the family Eulophidae which was discovered in the 1920s in the area of northwestern India (Punjab), now Pakistan. It is a parasitoid of the Asian citrus psyllid, an economically important pest of citrus crops around the world and a vector for Citrus greening disease.

Aonidiella orientalis is a species of insect in the family Diaspididae, the armored scale insects. It is known commonly as the Oriental yellow scale. It is an agricultural pest on a wide variety of crop plants.

Encarsia perniciosi is a tiny parasitic wasp, a parasitoid of the California red scale and the San Jose scale on citrus in California.

Nealiolus curculionis is a species of parasitic wasp in the family Braconidae. It is a parasitoid of the sunflower stem weevil Cylindrocopturus adspersus, and a number of other species of stem-boring weevils.

Paul Hevener DeBach was an American entomologist who was a specialist on biological control. He wrote the influential book Biological Control by Natural Enemies first published in 1974 which went through several editions and helped in the development of the field of biological control.

References

1 2 3 Dreistadt, Steve H. (2012). Integrated Pest Management for Citrus, Third Edition. University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. pp. 102–103. ISBN 978-1-60107-696-0.
↑ Luck, Robert F.; Hoddle, Mark. "California Red Scale". Center for Invasive Species Research, University of California, Riverside. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
↑ Fisher, T.W.; Bellows, Thomas S.; Caltagirone, L.E.; Dahlsten, D.L.; Huffaker, Carl B.; Gordh, G. (1999). Handbook of Biological Control: Principles and Applications of Biological Control. Academic Press. p. 714. ISBN 978-0-08-053301-8.
↑ DeBach, Paul; Rosen, David (1991). Biological Control by Natural Enemies. CUP Archive. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-521-39191-7.
↑ Reuther, Walter (1967). The Citrus Industry: Crop protection, postharvest technology, and early history of citrus research in California. UCANR Publications. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-931876-87-5.
↑ "California red scale and yellow scale". UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines: Citrus. UC IPM. Retrieved 13 November 2017.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Dreistadt-1] 1 2 3 Dreistadt, Steve H. (2012). Integrated Pest Management for Citrus, Third Edition. University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. pp. 102–103. ISBN 978-1-60107-696-0.

[2] Luck, Robert F.; Hoddle, Mark. "California Red Scale". Center for Invasive Species Research, University of California, Riverside. Retrieved 12 November 2017.

[Fisher-3] Fisher, T.W.; Bellows, Thomas S.; Caltagirone, L.E.; Dahlsten, D.L.; Huffaker, Carl B.; Gordh, G. (1999). Handbook of Biological Control: Principles and Applications of Biological Control. Academic Press. p. 714. ISBN 978-0-08-053301-8.

[DeBach-4] DeBach, Paul; Rosen, David (1991). Biological Control by Natural Enemies. CUP Archive. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-521-39191-7.

[Reuther-5] Reuther, Walter (1967). The Citrus Industry: Crop protection, postharvest technology, and early history of citrus research in California. UCANR Publications. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-931876-87-5.

[UCIPM-6] "California red scale and yellow scale". UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines: Citrus. UC IPM. Retrieved 13 November 2017.