Abstract
Simple SummaryThe brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is a polyphagous species that causes severe damage to tree fruit, small fruit, vegetables, ornamental crops, and field crops. Classical biological control is one potential long-term and low-cost strategy to control the BMSB, using natural enemies. However, no natural enemy native to Greece that infects BMSB has been reported yet. Herein, we report the occurrence of two native hymenopteran egg parasitoids—Anastatus bifasciatus and Ooencyrtus telenomicida. Both egg parasitoids were collected from egg masses of the BMSB in the region of Thessaloniki, northern Greece. The total parasitism rate was 8.5%. Furthermore, A. bifasciatus was collected in mid-June and mid-August on egg masses of BMSB that were laid on green beans, apricots, and olives. On the other hand, O. telenomicida was only collected in mid-June, on one egg mass of BMSB that was laid on apricots. This first record could actually facilitate, for future tasks, the biological control of H. halys in Greece.Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is an endemic species of East Asia; it was introduced into Europe in 2007. It has a wide range of hosts as it feeds on over 170 host plant species and significantly impacts crop production. In Greece, H. halys causes significant losses in the production of kiwi, peaches, and green beans; thus, control of this species (including biological control) is essential. Here, we focus on the potential impact of native natural enemies of H. halys in Greece. From June to October 2020, we sampled naturally field-laid H. halys egg masses to recover native parasitoids. A total of 20 egg masses of H. halys were collected from infested fields from different locations in northern Greece. Out of 529 eggs, 45 parasitoids managed to hatch successfully. The overall parasitism rate was 8.5%. We found two species of Hymenopteran egg parasitoids attacking H. halys eggs—Anastatus bifasciatus (Geoffrey) (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) and Ooencyrtus telenomicida (Vassiliev) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), with the former comprising 58% of all parasitoids that were recovered. These results contribute to the knowledge about the natural enemy community that attacks H. halys in Greece, and the use of these native egg parasitoids in biological control programs may be a viable H. halys management strategy.
Highlights
The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is a highly polyphagous pest that is native of Asia; it causes severe damage to a wide variety of fruit and vegetable crops by piercing the surface of the plant and fruit tissues [1,2]
H. halys, apart from being a major agricultural pest, is considered a nuisance problem, because massive numbers of adults often invade in the fall and winter in residential and commercial buildings, to overwinter [3]
Halyomorpha halys was first mentioned in Greece in the fall of 2011, causing nuisance inside houses in several neighborhoods of Athens [8]
Summary
The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is a highly polyphagous pest that is native of Asia; it causes severe damage to a wide variety of fruit and vegetable crops by piercing the surface of the plant and fruit tissues [1,2]. H. halys, apart from being a major agricultural pest, is considered a nuisance problem, because massive numbers of adults often invade in the fall and winter in residential and commercial buildings, to overwinter [3]. Halyomorpha halys was first mentioned in Greece in the fall of 2011, causing nuisance inside houses in several neighborhoods of Athens [8]. In 2017, in two different kiwi orchards in Northern Greece, located in the regional unit of Imathia and Pieria, respectively, significant damage on kiwi fruits was observed due to infestation by H. halys, and rendered them non-marketable [9]. In Greece, H. halys has two distinct generations [Andreadis, unpublished data]
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