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This study evaluated the potential of flowering plant species naturally occurring to promote the conservation and early establishment of key natural enemies of aphids and thrips in apple and peach orchards. Flowering plants present in the North East of Spain, a main fruit production area in Europe, were sampled to determine their flowering period and to identify potential natural enemies present on each plant species. Thirty-six plant species were found blooming from early March to late May and provided an array of flowers that might ensure food resources for natural enemies. Among them, six species – Eruca vesicaria (L.) Cav., Cardaria draba (L.) Desv., Euphorbia serrata (L.) S.G. Gmel., Malva sylvestris L., Anacyclus clavatus (Desf.) Pers. and Diplotaxis erucoides (L.) DC. – hosted a high diversity of potential natural enemies of aphids and thrips. Their blooming started early in the season and lasted for several sampling weeks and they were widely distributed. Moreover, they had available nectar even in those species with protected nectaries. Therefore, these plant species can be considered as promising candidates for inclusion in the ecological infrastructure designed for fruit orchards in the study area to promote the conservation of the biological control agents of aphids and thrips.

Our work reports on the establishment of the neotropical parasitoid Dolichogenidea gelechiidivoris Marsh (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) for the first time in Europe. This larval parasitoid has been recorded in samples collected in commercial tomato crops in Catalonia (North-eastern Spain) from 2016 to the present. Dolichogenidea gelechiidivoris is considered to be a new biocontrol agent among the resident parasitoid complex of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae).

Our study aimed to assess the contribution of natural parasitism due to Necremnus tutae Ribes & Bernardo (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) to the biological control of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidopera:Gelechiidae) in commercial plots where an IPM program based on the use of predatory mirid bugs was implemented. During the samplings, the presence of another parasitoid was detected and, therefore, a second part of our study intended to identify this species and to evaluate the importance of its natural populations in the biological control of the pest. Leaflets with T. absoluta galleries were collected during 2017-2020 from commercial tomato plots in the horticultural production area of Catalonia (Northeast Spain), including greenhouses, open fields, and roof covered tunnels that lack side walls. In the laboratory, T. absoluta larvae were classified as ectoparasitized, alive, or dead. Reared parasitoids from ectoparasitized larvae were mostly morphologically identified as Necremnus sp. with parasitism rates that peaked in summer months with values between 9 and 15%. Some of these ectoparasitized larvae also yielded another parasitoid identified as Dolichogenidea gelechiidivoris Marsh (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) by both morphological and molecular-DNA barcoding methods. In 2020, parasitism rates due to D. gelechiidivoris that increased with season up to 22%. Our work reports for the first time in Europe the presence of the neotropical species D. gelechiidivoris adding this biocontrol agent to the resident parasitoid complex of T. absoluta in Spain.

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