Abstract
The cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB), Psylliodes chrysocephala L. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a major pest of oilseed rape, Brassica napus L. (Brassicaceae), within the UK and continental Europe. Following the withdrawal of many broad‐spectrum pesticides, most importantly neonicotinoids, and with increased incidence of pyrethroid resistance, few chemical control options remain, resulting in the need for alternative pest management strategies. We identified the parasitoid wasp Microctonus brassicae (Haeselbarth) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) within CSFB collected from three independent sites in Norfolk, UK. Parasitism of adult CSFB was confirmed, and wasp oviposition behaviour was described. Moreover, we show that within captive colonies parasitism rates are sufficient to generate significant biological control of CSFB populations. A sequence of the M. brassicae mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 (MT‐CO1) gene was generated for rapid future identification. Moroccan specimens of Microctonus aethiopoides (Loan), possessing 90% sequence similarity, were the closest identified sequenced species. This study represents the first description published in English of this parasitoid of the adult cabbage stem flea beetle.
Highlights
The cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB), Psylliodes chrysocephala L. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a major pest of oilseed rape (OSR), Brassica napus L. (Brassicaceae), the winter crop within the UK and continental Europe (Alford & Gould, 1975; Graham & Alford, 1981; Bromand, 1990; Winfield, 1992; Alford et al, 2003; Williams, 2010)
We identified the parasitoid wasp Microctonus brassicae (Haeselbarth) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) within CSFB collected from three independent sites in Norfolk, UK
Parasitoids had not been observed within captive colonies prior to this; previous generations of CSFB had been reared from plants containing larvae and not adult beetles
Summary
The cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB), Psylliodes chrysocephala L. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a major pest of oilseed rape (OSR), Brassica napus L. (Brassicaceae), the winter crop within the UK and continental Europe (Alford & Gould, 1975; Graham & Alford, 1981; Bromand, 1990; Winfield, 1992; Alford et al, 2003; Williams, 2010). The CSFB has become a prominent pest in the UK, in East Anglia and surrounding counties, following the 2013 EU moratorium on neonicotinoid seed treatment use in flowering crops (Wynn et al, 2014; Collins, 2017; Dewar, 2017; Kathage et al, 2017). Chemical control for CSFB has been provided by foliar pyrethroid application but increasing incidences of resistance to this insecticide have been reported across Europe (Højland et al, 2016; Dewar, 2017). Such instances have highlighted the requirement for alternative pest control methodologies (Williams, 2010)
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