Host-Dryinidae (Hymenoptera) interactions on edge grasses of maize agroecosystem throughout winter in Mexico

Abstract

Little is known about the host-parasitoid interactions on the edges of crops during winter. Our objective was to determine the parasitoid species that attack nymphs and adults of leafhoppers and planthoppers, and evaluate the interactions that occur during winter on maize edges. Between January and June of 2014 and 2015 leafhoppers and planthoppers with evidence of parasitism by Dryinidae (Hymenoptera) were collected on grasses that grow in maize fields margins in Mexico and were maintained alive until parasitoid adult emergence. Dryinids such as Gonatopus huggerti (Olmi), Gonatopus mimoides (Perkins), Gonatopus breviforceps (Kieffer), and Gonatopus caraibicus (Olmi) were the most common parasitoids. They attacked several leafhopper species such as Dalbulus maidis (DeLong), Balclutha incisa (Matsumura), Exitianus picatus (Gibson), and Stirellus bicolor (Van Duzee). The connection of the net was of 31%. The presence of parasitoids in winter margins highlights the importance of conserving maize edges for biological control.

Gonatopus jaliscanus sp. n., a new Pincer wasp from Jalisco, Mexico (Hymenoptera, Dryinidae)

“…Species of Gonatopus from Mexico are known mainly through the monographs on Dryinidae of the Nearctic (Olmi 1984) and Neotropical regions (Olmi and Virla 2014), the checklist of Moya-Raygoza and Olmi (2010) and the paper of Becerra-Chiron et al (2017) totalling 25 species of Gonatopus from the country. Following the above description of G.jaliscanus , the Gonatopus species known from Mexico now number 26.…”

“…Further research, also on the hosts, will be needed to better characterise this fauna. In fact, hosts are known only for 12 of the 26 Gonatopus species recorded from Mexico (Becerra-Chiron et al 2017, Guglielmino et al 2013): another gap to be bridged, in spite of the contributions of Prof Moya-Raygoza and his research group (Moya-Raygoza and Olmi 2010, Becerra-Chiron et al 2017). Among these 12 hosts, leafhopper pests of maize in the Neotropical region are economically important (Guglielmino et al 2006).…”

“…In the Nearctic and Neotropical regions respectively, the genus Gonatopus Ljungh, includes 51 (Olmi 1984, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2003, 2010, Olmi and Guglielmino 2013) and 127 species (Martins and Domahovski 2017a, b, Martins et al 2015a, b, Martins and Krinski 2016, Olmi and Guglielmino 2016, Olmi and Virla 2014). For its part, Mexico is inhabited by 135 species of Dryinidae and 25 of Gonatopus (Moya-Raygoza and Olmi 2010, Becerra-Chiron et al 2017). In 2017 the authors examined a species of Gonatopus collected in Jalisco, Mexico, which is described as new below.…”

Egg Parasitoids ofDalbulus maidis(Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) Within Maize Agroecosystems and in the Edge Zones of Maize Fields, and on Maize Varieties During the Wet Season in Mexico

“…Seasonal maize habitats are very common in tropical America, but little is known about the egg parasitoids that attack corn leafhoppers within maize fields and in their edge zones during the wet (growing) season. It has been previously reported that parasitoids attack the eggs ( Moya-Raygoza and Becerra-Chiron 2014 ), nymphs, and adults ( Becerra-Chiron et al 2017 ) of the corn leafhopper in edge habitats throughout the winter, when the maize crop is absent. In the present study, we found that once maize is planted during the wet season, egg parasitoids attacking D. maidis eggs are most abundant in the maize field and almost absent affecting the abundance of egg parasitoids on the edges, because it is possible that parasitoid species are abundant affecting eggs of another leafhopper species in the edges.…”

A review of the biology of the pincer wasps (Hymenoptera: Dryinidae)

“…According to Waloff (1975), from an ecological point of view, the wide range of host species utilised by these parasitoids leads to greater stability of the large complexes of hopper populations. As an example, we can mention the contribution of Becerra‐Chiron et al (2017) who studied a community of six species of leafhoppers in the margins of corn crops in Mexico and found that all of them were attacked by five species of Dryinidae, suggesting that these species are mostly generalists.…”