Mapping the distribution of Harmonia axyridis in Argentina through citizen science

BAUDINO FLORENCIA; ROY HELEN ; WERENKRAUT, VICTORIA

Punta Delgada

Congreso; BENEFITS AND RISKS OF EXOTIC BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENTS; 2018

Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) is an example of a biological control agent that has become a successful invader. It is a species native from Asia, which has been introduced to control aphid pests in many countries around the world, but nowadays it is considered as a pest itself. The spread and effects of this species have been intensively studied in Europe and North America, but in South America good information only exists for Chile, where the species showed an extremely fast rate of spread. Despite the relevance of this species in a neighbouring country, and that predictions based on climatic models show that H. axyridis potential distribution includes almost the entire Argentine territory, studies focused on the distribution, spread and impact of this species in Argentina are surprisingly scarce. By the late 1990s H. axyridis had been introduced into the centre of Argentina (Mendoza province) and by 2001 it was detected in Buenos Aires (around 1000 km away). By 2018 it was established in at least four provinces in the centre of Argentina (Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Córdoba and Santa Fé), and in NW Patagonia (Neuquén and Río Negro), but unfortunately, the available data is mainly anecdotic and/or from grey literature. Our aim is to compile the distribution of the species in Argentina, as a baseline for further studies. We have started a citizen science project (https://sites.google.com/a/comahue-conicet.gob.ar/vam) which is challenging because of the lack of tradition for people recording species in Argentina