Parasitoid survey of California red scale ('Aonidiella auratii') in Citrus groves in andalucía (South Spain)

Abstract

California Red Scale (CRS) is one of the most important citrus pests all around the world. In the last years this pest has considerably increased its negative effects in the citrus industry of Andalusia. This pest owns a relatively rich complex of natural enemies, such as parasitoids which in certain parts of the world are successfully used in inoculative releases to control this pest. However, no information is available about the parasitoid complex in Andalusia. For this reason, we have sampled citrus orchards in four Andalusian provinces (Huelva, Cádiz, Málaga and Almería) from March 2005 to May 2007, on a 45 days basis. Infested leaves, twigs and fruits were taken to the laboratory, where 100 scales per plant substrate were observed under microscope binocular. We have detected three Aphelinidae (Hymenoptera) species: Aphytis melinus DeBach, Aphytis sp. (group lingnanensis) and Encarsia sp. The former was the most common, being the second less abundant. Encarsia sp. was extremely rare. The percentage of Aphytis parasitism was higher on females than on males. The parasitism was higher on leaves than fruits and twigs.