Egg Parasitoids from Pakistan as Possible Classical Biological Control Agents of the Invasive PestBagrada hilaris(Heteroptera: Pentatomidae)

Abstract

The painted bug, Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), has been found in the United States. Without its coevolved natural enemies it has become a serious threat to cole and other crops. The painted bug is native to eastern and southern Africa through western Asia (Map 417 1981, Distribution Maps of Pests, Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau). In the United States, it was first documented in coastal southern California in 2008 and, by 2012, it had dispersed to areas within Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and west Texas (Palumbo and Natwick 2010, Plant Health Progr. doi:10.1094/PHP-2010-0621-01BR; Bundy et al. 2012, Southwest. Entomol. 37: 411–414; Reed et al. 2013, J. Integrated Pest Manag. 4: doi: http//dx.doi.org/10.1603/IPM13007). More recently, it was reported from cole crops in Coahuila, Mexico (Sanchez-Pena 2014, Southwest. Entomol. 39: 375–376). It is expected to continue to spread, threatening the commercial cole crop industry and ornamentals east of the Mississippi River. A classical biological control project was initiated in 2014 to discover and import key natural enemies within the area of origin of B. hilaris for quarantine evaluation in the United States. This is a report on initial results. Surveys were conducted in 2014 throughout Pakistan for natural enemies of this pest pentatomid, focused on parasitoids associated with their eggs. Although well known as a pest of Brassica crops, this insect is highly polyphagous and has been previously reported in Pakistan from a wide range of plants including Brassica oleracea L., Brassica rapa L. (as Brassica campestris L.), Brassica napus L.,