A comparison of life history parameters of populations of Gratiana spadicea (Chrysomelidae) reared on the natural host plant Solanum sisymbriifolium and the non-target crop Solanum melongena (Solanaceae): implications for biological control in South Afric

SCHACHTER-BROIDE J; GANDOLFO D; GURTLER RE

African Entomologist

Entomological Society of South Africa

Año: 2003 vol. 11 p. 31 - 38

Gratiana spadicea (Klug), a leaf-feeding tortoise beetle native to South America, was released in South Africa for the biological control of Solanum sisymbriifolium Lamarck (wild tomato), despite its ability to develop on cultivated eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) during laboratory host-specificity tests. Our studies in Argentina, during which beetle colonies were reared and sustained on both plant species, were aimed at determining whether a host range extension could be induced and thus whether eggplant crops may be under future threat in South Africa. During no-choice tests conducted under natural climatic conditions, larvae reared on potted eggplants suffered significantly higher mortality, longer developmental times and lower pupal masses than those reared on potted wild tomato. During choice tests under laboratory conditions, adult beetles fed significantly more on wild tomato than on eggplant, irrespective of whether the larvae were reared on eggplant or wild tomato, although the larger wild tomato-reared beetles consumed more than the smaller adults reared on eggplant. Under natural climatic conditions, females oviposited exclusively on wild tomato plants regardless of larval feeding history. During no-choice fecundity tests, females reared as larvae and adults on wild tomato had a significantly shorter preoviposition period and higher fecundity than females reared as larvae on wild tomato and as adults on eggplant, or as larvae and adults on eggplant. A significant percentage of females that spent part or all of their life cycle on eggplant laid only anomalous eggs (without a structure for leaf adhesion) or no eggs at all, whereas all females reared exclusively on wild tomato laid only normal eggs. The artificial rearing of G. spadicea on eggplant thus did not induce changes in adult feeding and oviposition preferences within the same generation, suggesting that eggplant is highly unlikely to serve as a viable alternative host for G. spadicea. Our study thus provides additional support for the decision taken to release G. spadicea in South Africa for the biological control of S. sisymbriifolium.