INVESTIGADORES
SOSA alejandro JoaquÍn
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
The petiole mining fly Thrypticus sp. (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), a new agent for the biological control of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)
Autor/es:
H.A. CORDO; A.J. SOSA; M.C.HERNÁNDEZ
Lugar:
Bozeman
Reunión:
Simposio; X International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds; 1999
Resumen:
Since the beginning of the investigations on natural enemies of water hyacinth,Thrypticus has been mentioned among the top seven candidates for biological control. In1995, a revived interest for biocontrol of water hyacinth directed the investigations to newagents and Thrypticus stood as a priority candidate. Thrypticus occurs in Central andSouth America, from Panama (probably introduced) to Argentina and it is probably themost prevalent phytophagous insect in the whole native range of water hyacinth. Untilnow, water hyacinth was the only host known in the family. We found five differentspecies of Thrypticus attacking four plant species in the Pontederiaceae family:Eichhornia crassipes (Martius) Solm-Laubach (two species of Thrypticus), E. azurea(Sw.) Kunth , Pontederia cordata L. and P. subovata (Seub.) Lowden. Adults are 1.5 to 2mm long, metallic green in color. Females lay eggs singly in petioles of E. crassipes,inserting the eggs into the tissues just above the water line. The larvae, which are only afew mm long, bore through the bases of the petioles. The horizontal tunnels, open at bothends, are blackish in color. When larvae are mature, the leaf is already senescent, and theadults emerge from petioles above or below water level and starting to rot. Although theeffect of its damage on the demography of water hyacinth is unknown, other attributes ofthe fly like the apparent strict monophagy, ubiquity and abundance appear promising.