Tuta absoluta (Meyrick, 1917) (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae): nova štetočina paradajza u Srbiji

Tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta (Meyrick, 1917) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), a devastating pest of tomato originating from South America has been recorded in Serbia on three localities: in tomato main greenhouse and open field production area located in the vicinity of town Leskovac (South Serbia), in surroundings of the village Donji Vrtogoš (near town Vranje, South Serbia) and in a greenhouses complex in Kraljevci (60 km west of Belgrade). The presence of T. absoluta was confirmed by morphological and molecular study of the collected specimens.Prisustvo lisnog minera paradajza Tuta absoluta (Meyrick, 1917) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), opasne štetočine poreklom iz Južne Amerike, utvrđeno je na tri lokaliteta u Srbiji: u plastenicima i poljima u okolini Leskovca (južna Srbija), u okolini sela Donji Vrtogoš (u blizini Vranja) i u kompleksu plastenika u selu Kraljevci (60 km zapadno od Beograda). Identifikacija T. absoluta je izvršena morfološkim i molekularnim analizama sakupljenih uzoraka

Identification of two cryptic species within the praon abjectum group (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) using molecular markers and geometric morphometrics

The genus Praon represents a large group of aphid endoparasitoids and is exemplary for the problems encountered in their taxonomy because of a great variability of morphological characters. To investigate the intraspecific variability and to ascertain cryptic speciation within the Praon abjectum Haliday group, biotypes in association with the aphid hosts Aphis sambuci L., Longicaudus trirhodus Walker, and Rhopabsiphum spp. were examined. We combined molecular and geometric morphometric analyses, that is, partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I and nuclear 28SD2 genes and the shape of the forewing. Low variation of 28SD2 sequences confirmed the close relatedness of species from the genus Praon. Analysis of the cytochrome oxidase subunit I sequences however identified three separate taxa within the P. abjectum group with substantial genetic divergence. The biotype of P. abjectum associated with L. Trirhodus differed from those associated with Rhopabsiphum sp. and A. sambuci by 5.4-6.5% and 7.7% sequence divergence, respectively, while the genetic distance between the latter two biotypes ranged from 9.5 to 10%. The main changes in the forewing shape that discriminate these three biotypes as revealed by geometric morphometrics are related to the stigma shape and the position of the radial nerve. Based on the differences determined in mitochondrial sequences and in the shape of the wing, we describe two new cryptic species within the P. abjectum group as follows: P. sambuci sp. n. in association with A. sambuci/S. nigra and P. longicaudus sp. n. in association with L. Trirhodus/T. aquilegifolium. © 2013 Entomological Society of America

Genetic and morphological variation in sexual and asexual parasitoids of the genus Lysiphlebus - An apparent link between wing shape and reproductive mode

© 2015 Petrovic et al.; licensee BioMed Central. Background: Morphological divergence often increases with phylogenetic distance, thus making morphology taxonomically informative. However, transitions to asexual reproduction may complicate this relationship because asexual lineages capture and freeze parts of the phenotypic variation of the sexual populations from which they derive. Parasitoid wasps belonging to the genus Lysiphlebus Foerster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) are composed of over 20 species that exploit over a hundred species of aphid hosts, including many important agricultural pests. Within Lysiphlebus, two genetically and morphologically well-defined species groups are recognised: the fabarum and the testaceipes groups. Yet within each group, sexual as well as asexual lineages occur, and in L. fabarum different morphs of unknown origin and status have been recognised. In this study, we selected a broad sample of specimens from the genus Lysiphlebus to explore the relationship between genetic divergence, reproductive mode and morphological variation in wing size and shape (quantified by geometric morphometrics). Results: The analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences revealed a clear separation between the testaceipes and fabarum groups of Lysiphlebus, as well as three well-defined phylogenetic lineages within the fabarum species group and two lineages within the testaceipes group. Divergence in wing shape was concordant with the deep split between the testaceipes and fabarum species groups, but within groups no clear association between genetic divergence and wing shape variation was observed. On the other hand, we found significant and consistent differences in the shape of the wing between sexual and asexual lineages, even when they were closely related. Conclusions: Mapping wing shape data onto an independently derived molecular phylogeny of Lysiphlebus revealed an association between genetic and morphological divergence only for the deepest phylogenetic split. In more recently diverged taxa, much of the variation in wing shape was explained by differences between sexual and asexual lineages, suggesting a mechanistic link between wing shape and reproductive mode in these parasitoid wasps