First record of invasive rugose spiraling whitefly Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) along with parasitoids in Karnataka

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Occurrence of the invasive rugose spiraling whitefly (RSW), Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin was found on coconut, banana, mango, guava, sapota, Indian almond, water apple, ball tree, rubber fig, butterfly palm, and ruffled fan palm for the first time in Karnataka. Severe damage was noticed in the coastal areas of Mangalore and Udupi and the infestation ranged from 20-35% in coconut and 24-38% in banana. Morphology and molecular based taxonomic tools were used to identity the pest and its natural enemies. Survey also revealed natural parasitism by the parasitoids Encarsia guadeloupae Viggiani and E. dispersa Polaszek (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) with 5-15% in coconut, 7-18% in banana and 22-30% in sapota. Besides, other commonly found natural enemies viz., Stethorus sp. associated with mites and Dichochrysa astur were also recorded. Furthermore, augmentation and conservation strategies for these parasitoids for the management of this invasive pest were discussed.

Life cycle and morphometry of Rugose spiraling whitefly, Aleyrodicus rugioperculatus Martin (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) on coconut

“…In India, it was first observed in the coconut farms of the Pollachi area of Tamil Nadu and Palakkad area of Kerala during July-August 2016. Percent infestation of RSW, 25-40℅ and 40-60℅ were recorded in banana and coconut leaves, respectively samarangense), ball tree (Calophyllum inophyllum), betel vine (Piper betle), rubber fig ( Ficus elastica), butterfly palm (Dypsis lutescens) and ruffled fan palm (Licuala grandis) (Selvaraj et al, 2017). RSW sucks the plant sap and it leads to phytotoxic effect on coconut.…”

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Selvaraj et al, 2017). RSW has a broad range of host plants (96), including ornamentals, palms, weeds, and native and invasive plant species (Stocks and Hodges, 2012).

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Entomopathogenic Potential of Simplicillium lanosoniveum Native Strain in Suppressing Invasive Whitefly, Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), Infesting Coconut

“…The first incidence of the RSW was identified in India during the year 2016 following which it has spread widely and caused serious damages in larger areas of crop cultivation, particularly in coconut [6][7][8]. The adoption of management strategies using chemical pesticides is uneconomical and it also causes severe adverse effects on naturally existing biocontrol agents including Encarsia guadeloupae Viggiani (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) [7,8].…”

“…Initially, 17 plant species (belonging to 11 families) were recorded as preferred hosts for RSW after the pest reached South Kerala [6]. Subsequently, the incidence of RSW was reported in the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Goa, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Gujarat on several crops such as coconut, banana, sapota, corn, oil palm, mango, cashew and many other ornamental plants [7,8]. The availability of a wide range of host plants, combined with congenial climatic conditions, favored their successful establishment in the areas of invasion.…”

Prevalence of invasive aleyrodidae harbouring horticultural host plants in different ecosystems of Tamil Nadu

“…Same to that the spiralling whitefly, Aleurodicus disperses Russell was first reported in 1993 from Kerala and has been recorded on 253 host plants in India [5,6] . Meanwhile, some of the Aleyrodids were recently got introduced into India in recent years viz., Aleurothrixus trachoides (Aleurotrachelus trachoides) (Back) during the year 2015 [7] , A. rugioperculatus Martin during 2016 [8,9,10,11] , Aleurotrachelus atratus Hempel [12] , Paraleyrodes bondari Peracchi [13] , Paraleyrodes minei Iaccarino [14] and Aleurothrixus floccosus (Maskell) during 2019 [15] . Aleyrodids cause yield loss of more than 50% by direct and indirect damage by spreading plant viral diseases through acting as a vector of those pathogens.…”