Abstract
Beet webworm Loxostege sticticalis is a notorious pest widely distributed on the territory of Eurasia. Its outbreaks cause severe damage to crops in Russia and China. Here Wolbachia infection is reported for the first time in L. sticticalis. Larvae were sampled in Rostov, Saratov, Irkutsk Regions and Republic of Buryatia in 2005–2013. Primers targeting the wsp gene were used for the PCR screening of Wolbachia. Among 148 larvae, 35 were Wolbachia positive. Wolbachia prevalence rate ranged from 21 to 40 % in the Asian and from 0 to 47 % in the European part of Russia. The combined sample subsets were compared for European versus Asian part of Russia and 2005–2009 versus 2010–2013 timeframes. The prevalence rates of Wolbachia were not significantly different between two parts of Russia, but the endosymbiont presence (estimated for the total dataset) increased with time within the observation period.
Highlights
Beet webworm Loxostege sticticalis L. is a notorious pest of numerous crops in European and Asian parts of Russia (Frolov et al, 2008), as well as in Northern China (Chen Xiao et al, 2008)
Thirty larvae collected in Saratov Region have been found as Wolbachia-free in 2006, but nearly half have been Wolbachia-positive in 2013
According to Pearson’s chi-square criterion (χ2=2.271), the prevalence rates of Wolbachia does not depend on the geographical origin of the sampled populations, which indirectly confirms the conclusion that the beet webworm populations belong to a single metapopulation (Jiang et at., 2010)
Summary
Beet webworm Loxostege sticticalis L. is a notorious pest of numerous crops in European and Asian parts of Russia (Frolov et al, 2008), as well as in Northern China (Chen Xiao et al, 2008). Wolbachia prevalence rate ranged from 21 to 40 % in the Asian and from 0 to 47 % in the European part of Russia. The prevalence rates of Wolbachia were not significantly different between two parts of Russia, but the endosymbiont presence (estimated for the total dataset) increased with time within the observation period.
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