Natural Enemies of the Harrisia Cactus Mealybug and Other Hypogeococcus Species (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) in Puerto Rico: Identification and Taxonomic Notes on Primary and Secondary Parasitoids

Species complex diversification by host plant use in an herbivorous insect: The source of Puerto Rican cactus mealybug pest and implications for biological control

“…This finding is a warning of the threat that the presence of this pest represents to cactus diversity in the United States and Mexico, where cactus diversity is high. Since the first detection of the pest in Puerto Rico in 2005 (Segarra‐Carmona, Ramírez‐Lluch, Cabrera‐Asencio, & Jiménez‐López, 2010), the mealybug now attacks half of the 14 native Puerto Rican cactus species (including three endemic and two endangered species) occurring in dry forests, causing large gall‐like tissue deformations that often lead to high plant mortality (Carrera‐Martínez, Aponte‐Díaz, Ruiz‐Arocho, & Jenkins, 2015; Triapitsyn et al., 2020). With the new record of the pest in California, the pest has spread beyond its current distribution range to potential cactus hosts throughout North America (including Mexico) and the Caribbean.…”

Hyperparasitoids (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae and Signiphoridae) of Hypogeococcus spp. mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) in Argentina and Paraguay

“…(Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) that feed on many cacti (Cactaceae) and on some Amaranthaceae and Portulacaceae species. A complex of primary and secondary parasitoids in several families of Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera) was revealed during these surveys, many of these natural enemies were described as new species (Triapitsyn, Aguirre, Logarzo, Dal Molin 2014a;Triapitsyn, Logarzo, Aguirre, Aquino, 2014b;Triapitsyn, Aguirre, Logarzo, 2016;Triapitsyn et al, 2018;Triapitsyn et al, 2020;Noyes and Triapitsyn, 2018). Two of the primary parasitoids, Anagyrus cachamai Triapitsyn, Logarzo and Aguirre and A. lapachosus Triapitsyn, Aguirre and Logarzo (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), both known from Argentina and Paraguay (Triapitsyn et al, 2018), are candidate biological control agents against a Puerto Rican pest Hypogeococcus sp., commonly called the "Harrisia cactus mealybug" (HCM).…”

“…in Argentina and elsewhere in the New World were discussed in Poveda-Martínez et al (2019, 2020. Triapitsyn et al (2020) identified a complex of the secondary parasitoids of Hypogeococcus spp. via their primary encyrtid parasitoids in Puerto Rico and estimated overall hyperparasitism to be around 10%.…”

“…They also commented that hyperparasitoids of Hypogeococcus spp. via the common primary parasitoids, Anagyrus spp., were also identified in Argentina (Triapitsyn et al, 2014a;Triapitsyn et al, 2018) but they appeared to be less diverse (2 different species in 2 genera in 2 families of Chalcidoidea) than in Puerto Rico (4 confirmed species in 3 genera in 3 chalcidoid families) (Triapitsyn et al, 2020). Moreover, one of the Argentine hyperparasitoids, Prochiloneurus argentinensis (De Santis) (Encyrtidae), was quite rare, and the other, Chartocerus axillaris De Santis (Signiphoridae), was common (Triapitsyn et al, 2014a;Triapitsyn et al, 2018.…”

A new species of Acerophagus Smith (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) from Vieques Island, Puerto Rico (USA), parasitoid of the mealybug Hypogeococcus sp. (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)

“…In Rosen (1969), A. belenaguirreae keys to couplet 12 together with A. nubilipennis Dozier, originally described from Puerto Rico (Dozier 1926), and A. californicus Rosen from California, USA, both of which have two narrow, dark cross bands on the gastral dorsum from the cercal plates (Rosen 1969). Triapitsyn et al (2020), who diagnosed A. nubilipennis and illustrated its holotype, mentioned the following morphological female features that separate A. belenaguirreae (as Acerophagus sp. near nubilipennis) from A. nubilipennis: the latter has very different proportions of the antennal segments, particularly of the scape, F4, F5 and clava being notably longer and relatively narrower, and its fore wing disc is more sparsely setose behind the submarginal vein anterior to linea calva (figs 4c and 4d, respectively, in Triapitsyn et al 2020, p. 374) than in the former (Figs 5 and 7, respectively).…”