CEPAVE   05420
CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS PARASITOLOGICOS Y DE VECTORES
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Potential of biological control agents against Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae): current knowledge in Argenti
Autor/es:
LUNA, MARÍA GABRIELA; PEREYRA, PATRICIA C.; COVIELLA, CARLOS E.; NIEVES, ELIANA L.; SAVINO, VIVINA; SALAS GERVASSIO, NADIA G.; LUFT, ERICA; VIRLA, EDUARDO; SANCHEZ, NORMA E.
Revista:
FLORIDA ENTOMOLOGIST
Editorial:
FLORIDA ENTOMOLOGICAL SOC
Referencias:
Lugar: Nueva York; Año: 2015 vol. 98 p. 489 - 494
ISSN:
0015-4040
Resumen:
Pest suppression through biological control seeks to maximize the action of the pest?s natural enemies with the goal of reducing pesticide use.We present a summary of published studies and original findings on several entomophagous species as biocontrol agents of Tuta absoluta(Meyrick, 1917) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), a key pest of tomato crops in Argentina, with the aim to select potential candidates for its management.Spontaneously occurring T. absoluta egg parasitism was lower than that inflicted by the larval parasitoids Dineulophus phthorimaeae(De Santis, 1983) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and Pseudapanteles dignus (Muesebeck, 1938) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). These parasitoidsexhibit important life history traits in laboratory conditions and produce relevant amounts of T. absoluta mortality in the field. Surveys carriedout in Tucumán and Buenos Aires provinces, Argentina, revealed that D. phthorimaeae and P. dignus coexist in tomato and eggplant crops; T.absoluta-P. dignus interaction is also found on other non-cultivated solanaceous species present in horticultural farms. In addition, studiesare currently under way to determine the predation ability of Zelus obscuridorsis (Stål, 1860) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) on both larvae andadults of the pest. Finally, we discuss the prospects for implementing experimental augmentative releases of P. dignus to control the pest, acandidate selected considering various positive biological traits and because of its simple mass production and manipulation compared withother antagonists of T. absoluta.