Studies on the Biology of Hypogeococcus pungens (sensu stricto) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) in Argentina to Aid the Identification of the Mealybug Pest of Cactaceae in Puerto Rico.
Hypogeococcus pungens Granara de Willink, sensu stricto, is a serious pest of cacti in Puerto Rico threating many Caribbean islands. A classical biological control program for H. pungens was initiated for Puerto Rico in 2010 with a survey for natural enemies of H. pungens in its native range of Argentina. Biological differences were observed between populations of H. pungens sampled on Amaranthaceae and Cactaceae. Molecular studies suggested that H. pungens populations from different host plant families are likely a complex of species. Our objective was to study the biology of H. pungens sensu stricto on specimens collected in the same locality and host plant as the holotype [Tucumán Province, Argentina; Alternanthera pungens Kunth (Amaranthaceae)]. We were interested in the reproductive biology of females, longevity and survival of adults, the effect of temperature on the development, and nymph performance (survival and development) on five Cactaceae species. We found that H. pungens s.s showed marked biological differences from the populations collected on Cactaceae and exported to Australia for the biological control of the cactus Harrisia spp. The main differences were the presence of deuterotoky parthenogenesis and the fact that H. pungens did not attack Cactaceae in the laboratory. Our results provide biological evidence that H. pungens is a species complex. We propose that the population introduced to Australia is neither Hypogeococcus festerianus Lizer y Trelles nor H. pungens, but an undescribed species with three circuli, and that the Hypogeococcus pest of cacti in Puerto Rico is not H. pungens.
FuEDEI, Simón Bolívar 1559, Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina (redbell_@hotmail.com; glogarzo@fuedei.org) redbell_@hotmail.com.
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Aguirre
U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Ave, SW 1154 South Building, Washington, DC 20250 (e-mail: hilda.diaz-soltero@aphis.usda.gov).
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Diaz-Soltero
Instituto Superior de Entomología "Dr. Abraham Willink" (INSUE) Miguel Lillo 205, 4000 S. M. de Tucumán, Argentina (e-mail: luciaclap@gmail.com; andrea_saracho1308@hotmail.com).
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Instituto Superior de Entomología "Dr. Abraham Willink" (INSUE) Miguel Lillo 205, 4000 S. M. de Tucumán, Argentina (e-mail: luciaclap@gmail.com; andrea_saracho1308@hotmail.com).
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Saracho Bottero
Entomology Research Museum, Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
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Triapitsyn
Department of Ecología Genética Y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria Pab. 2, C1428 EHA Buenos Aires, Argentina (estebanhasson@yahoo.com.ar).
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Hasson
FuEDEI, Simón Bolívar 1559, Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina (redbell_@hotmail.com; glogarzo@fuedei.org).
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Logarzo
D000818:Animals; D001118:Argentina; D029421:Cactaceae; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000145:classification* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D060434:Herbivory; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D009758:Nymph / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D011647:Puerto Rico; D012098:Reproduction; D013696:Temperature
Alternanthera; Biological control; cacti; host race; species complex