Investigating biological control agents for controlling invasive populations of the Mealybug Pseudococcus comstocki in France

WOS: 000378865200032 PubMed ID: 27362639 Pseudococcus comstocki (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) is a mealybug species native to Eastern Asia and present as an invasive pest in northern Italy and southern France since the start of the century. It infests apple and pear trees, grapevines and some ornamental trees. Biocontrol programmes against this pest proved successful in central Asia and North America in the second half of the 20th century. In this study, we investigated possible bio-control agents against P. comstocki, with the aim of developing a biocontrol programme in France. We carried out systematic DNA-barcoding at each step in the search for a specialist parasitoid. First we characterised the French target populations of P. comstocki. We then identified the parasitoids attacking P. comstocki in France. Finally, we searched for foreign mealybug populations identified a priori as P. comstocki and surveyed their hymenopteran parasitoids. Three mealybug species (P. comstocki, P. viburni and P. cryptus) were identified during the survey, together with at least 16 different parasitoid taxa. We selected candidate biological control agent populations for use against P. comstocki in France, from the species Allotropa burrelli (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) and Acerophagus malinus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). The coupling of molecular and morphological characterisation for both pests and natural enemies facilitated the programme development and the rejection of unsuitable or generalist parasitoids. French "Agence Nationale de la Recherche"French National Research Agency (ANR) [ANR-10-JCJC-1708 BICORAMICS]; EUEuropean Union (EU) [324475 COLBICS, 265865 PURE]; Turkey-France Cooperation grant CNRS-TUBITAK; INRA Plant Health and Environment DivisionInstitut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) This work was funded by the French "Agence Nationale de la Recherche" (grant ANR-10-JCJC-1708 BICORAMICS), by the EU Seventh Framework Programme (grants Marie-Curie IAPP #324475 COLBICS and KBBE #265865 PURE), by a Turkey-France Cooperation grant CNRS-TUBITAK, and by the INRA Plant Health and Environment Division. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.