Checklist of Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and Aphelinus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) species from Belgium with respectively four and three new records.

Thomas Lopes,Frédéric Francis,Séverin Hatt,George Japoshvili,Petr Starý,Pierre-Nicolas Libert

doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4092.4.5

Abstract

Aphid parasitoids have good potential for crop protection. However, they have been poorly studied in Belgium, especially in terms of species diversity. Therefore, the aim of this work was to establish the first checklist for the country. To complete the list, aphid parasitoids were sampled in wheat and pea fields near Gembloux (Belgium), in 2013 and 2014. Among the identified species, Aphelinus asychisWalker, Aphelinus daucicolaKurdjumov, Aphelinus fusciscapus(Förster), Aphidius asteris Haliday, Aphidius eadyi Starý, Gonzalez & Hall, Praon barbatum Mackauer, and Trioxys auctus (Haliday) were recorded for the first time in Belgium. Thirty-two Aphidiinae and seven Aphelinus species were included in the checklist. It is hoped this study will stimulate further research, as species diversity is still low compared with neighbouring countries.

Highlights

Parasitoids can play an important role in the control of aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) populations (Boivin et al 2012)
All of the new records were previously recorded in countries neighbouring Belgium such as France (A. asteris, A. asychis, A. daucicola, A. eadyi, P. barbatum, and T. auctus), Germany (A. asteris, A. asychis, A. fusciscapus, P. barbatum, and T. auctus), and the Netherlands (A. asychis and T. auctus), and in the United Kingdom (A. asteris, A. asychis, A. daucicola, A. eadyi, and T. auctus) (Yu et al 2012)
No recent updates of Aphidiinae and Aphelinus species have been done in Belgium, unlike several European countries in the last decade, giving information on the diversity of these groups

Summary

Introduction

Parasitoids can play an important role in the control of aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) populations (Boivin et al 2012). They mainly belong to the subfamily Aphidiinae Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), which contains about 615 species worldwide (Yu et al 2012). According to the Fauna Europea database, 213 of them were recorded in Europe up to 2013 (van Achterberg 2013). In the family Aphelinidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea), all species from the genus Aphelinus Dalman are aphid parasitoids (Starý 1988). According to the Universal Chalcidoidea Database, 92 species are known worldwide. 36 are recorded in Europe (Noyes 2015)

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