Six aphid parasitoids are listed including three species which are
recorded for the fi rst time from the Maltese islands, namely Aphidius funebris,
Ephedrus persicae and Lysiphlebus confusus. Aphidius colemani, a species which
was introduced for the control of greenhouse aphids, was also found for the fi rst time
in the open.peer-reviewe

Mifsud, David

Stary, Petr

English

OAR@UM

Aphid parasitoids from Malta(Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae)                                                     David MIFSUD1 & Petr STARY2ABSTRACT. Six aphid parasitoids are listed including three species which are recorded for the fi rst time from the Maltese islands, namely Aphidius funebris, Ephedrus persicae and Lysiphlebus confusus. Aphidius colemani, a species which was introduced for the control of greenhouse aphids, was also found for the fi rst time in the open.KEYWORDS.  Associations,  Aphidius colemani, Mediterranean.        INTRODUCTION  Aphid parasitoids (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae) are known to be research targets  useful in several respects. In the last three decades, study of their taxonomy has been satisfactory at Mediterranean level (e.g. KAVALLIERATOS et al., 2004; LAAMARI et al., 2011; STARÝ, 1976; UYSAL et al., 2004). Also,  their  aphid associations can be relatively easy to determine as they can  be derived from plant-aphid-associations sampled in the fi eld and subsequently reared in the laboratory. On these grounds, too, respective  faunal relationships and biodiversity studies can be derived and determined. On-going research in Malta (e.g. MIFSUD & STARÝ, 2009) is providing new data on aphid parasitoids previously unrecorded from Malta and new records are presented in this short contribution.  Parasitoids were reared from live aphid samples generally consisting of between 20-30 individuals. Material was preserved in 75% alcohol and is deposited in the private collections of the authors.RESULTSAphidius colemani Viereck, 1912Material examined. MALTA: Birzebbuga, 7 specimens emerged on 12.v.2011, from Rhopalosiphum padi on Triticum sp., leg.  D. Mifsud.Notes. This species was introduced in the Maltese islands to contol greenhouse aphids (MIFSUD, 1997).Aphidius funebris Mackauer, 1961Material examined. MALTA: St. Thomas Bay, 4 specimens emerged on 5.ii.2011 from Uroleucon sonchi on Sonchus sp., leg. D. Mifsud.Notes. This species represents a new record for the Maltese islands.1Junior College, University of Malta, Department of Biology, Msida MSD 1252, Malta. e-mail: david.a.mifsud um.edu.mt2Laboratory of Aphidology, Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech republic, České Budějovice, Czech Republic. e-mail: stary@entu.cas.czBULLETIN OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MALTA (2011) Vol. 4 :  55-57Aphidius matricariae Haliday, 1834Material examined. MALTA: Valletta, 1 ♀, emerged on 22.iv.2011 from Myzus persicae on Capparis sp., leg. D. Mifsud.Notes. This species was previously reported from the Maltese islands by FARRUGIA (1995).Diaeretiella rapae (M´Intosh, 1855)Material examined. MALTA: St. Thomas Bay, 130 specimens emerged between 11-15.i.2011 from Lipaphis erysimi on Diplotaxis sp., leg. D. Mifsud; Zejtun, 97 specimens emerged on 20.i.2011 from Lipaphis sp. on Diplotaxis sp., leg. D. Mifsud; Zejtun, 60 specimens emerged on 20.i.2011 from Melanaphis donacis on Arundo donax, leg. D. Mifsud.Notes. This species was previously reported from the Maltese islands by FARRUGIA (1995). Ephedrus persicae Froggatt, 1904Material examined. MALTA: Zejtun, 3 specimens emerged on 20.i.2011 from Melanaphis donacis on Arundo donax, leg. D. Mifsud.Notes. This species represents a new record for the Maltese islands.Lysiphlebus confusus Tremblay and Eady, 1978Material examined. MALTA: Dingli, 2 ♀♀, emerged on 2.iv.2011from Dysaphis pyri on Pyrus communis (local variety – Bambinella), leg. D. Mifsud.Notes. This species represents a new record for the Maltese islands.DISCUSSION  The listed aphid parasitoids and their associations in Malta are interesting. Aphidius funebris  is a member of a  typical  parasitoid guild on Uroleucon spp., broadly distributed in the western Palaearctic. Aphidius matricariae and Diaeretiella rapae are both almost cosmopolitan in distribution, believed to be of  West Palaearctic origin. The parasitoid guild  represented by Ephedrus persicae on Melanaphis donacis is of interest as this might be specifi c to the Maltese islands. E. persicae is a cosmopolitan species, believed to be of West Palearctic origin (KAVALLIERATOS et al., 2001; MITROVSKI BOGDANOVIĆ et al., 2009). Usually, the parasitoid complex in the Mediterranean is  represented  prevailingly by Aphidius transcaspicus Telenga (KAVALLIERATOS et al., 2001), and the association also represents a potentially valuable refugium of this parasitoid as,  apart from Melanaphis spp., it also parasitises Hyalopterus spp.  pests both on Phragmites reeds as well as on peach, apricot and plum.  The detection of Aphidius colemani in the open is of special interest. On the one hand, it is possible that it occurs in Malta though previously unidentifi ed  as it is naturally widely distributed over the whole East Mediterranean and North Africa (KAVALLIERATROS et al., 2001). On the other hand, the species  was introduced purposely in the Maltese islands for the control of greenhouse aphids and proved effective. If this introduction led to the spread of A. colemani in the open, this could 56                                                                                                        D. MIFSUD  &  P. STARYcontribute to aphid control in the fi eld as well. The out-door dispersal and parasitization of  aphid hosts in the fi eld had been predicted by MIFSUD & STARÝ (2009).  These new results on parasitoid-aphid-plant  associations contribute to local biodiversity studies and  island peculiarities centering mainly on faunal compositions and ecosystem  relationships  in Malta.  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Dr Nicolás Perez Hidalgo for identifying the aphid samples. The work by P. Starý was partially funded from the Entomology Institute project AVOZ50070508 (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic).REFERENCESFARRUGIA, C. (1995) The entomofauna associated with caulifl ower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) cultivation in Gozo. B.Sc. dissertation, Department of Biology, University of Malta, vi + 119 pp. (unpublished).KAVALLIERATOS, N.G. (2009) Sexual dimorphism in Ephedrus persicae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae: Aphidiinae):  intraspecifi c variation in  size and shape. Canadian Entomologist, 141: 550-560.KAVALLIERATOS, N.G., LYKOURESSIS, D.P., SARLIS, C.P., STATHAS, G.J., SANCHIS SEGOVIA, A. & ATHANASSIOU, C.G. (2001) The Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea: Braconidae) of Greece. Phytoparasitica, 29: 306-340.KAVALLIERATOS, N.G., TOMANOVIĆ, Ž., STARÝ, P., ATHANASSIOU, C.G., SARLIS, G.P., PETROVIĆ, O., NIKITIĆ, M. & VERONIKI, M.A. (2004) A survey of aphid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) of Southeastern Europe and their aphid-plant associations. Appl. Entomol. Zool., 39: 527-563.LAAMARI, M., SOUDAD, T.C., SORAYA, B.F., BELKAIS, A.S., NAIMA, K. & STARÝ, P. (2011) A review of aphid parasitoids and their associations in Algeria (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae) (in press)MIFSUD, D. (1997) Biological Control in the Maltese Islands - past initiatives and future programmes. EPPO Bulletin, 27: 77-84.MIFSUD, D. & STARY, P. (2009) Pauesia silana Tremblay, 1969 a parasitoid of Cinara-aphids on Conifers in Malta. Bulletin of the Entomological Society of Malta, 2: 77-80.MITROVSKI BOGDANOVIĆ, A., IVANOVIĆ, A., TOMANOVIĆ, Ž., ŽIKIĆ, V., STARÝ, P. & KAVALLIERATOS, N.G. (2009) Sexual dimorphism in Ephedrus persicae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae): Intraspecifi c variation in size and shape. Canadian Entomologist, 141: 550-560.STARÝ, P. (1976) Aphid parasites (Hymenoptera, Aphidiidae) of the Mediterranean area. Trans. Czechosl. Acad. Sci., Ser. Math-nat. Sci. 86 (2): 95 pp. [and Dr. W. Junk, b.v., The Hague].UYSAL, M., STARÝ, P., SAHBAZ, A. & ÖSZEMERCI, E. (2004)  A review of aphid parasitoids (Hym., Braconidae, Aphidiinae) of Turkey. Egyptian journal of Biological Pest Control, 14: 355-370.Received: July 10, 2011Accepted: August 25, 2011Aphid parasitoids from Malta                                                                  57ISSN: 2070-4526Date of Publication: 30th November 2011© Entomological Society of Malta, 2011© The Authors, 2011

A review of aphid parasitoids

A review of aphid parasitoids and their associations in Algeria (Hymenoptera,

A survey of aphid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) of Southeastern Europe and their aphid-plant associations.

Accepted:

Aphid parasites (Hymenoptera,

Pauesia silana Tremblay,

Sexual dimorphism in Ephedrus persicae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae): Intraspecifi c variation in size and shape.

The Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea:

Aphid parasitoids from Malta (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae)

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Aphid parasitoids from Malta (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae)

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