Taxonomic Status and Population Oscillations of Aphidius colemani Species Group (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in Southern Brazil.

Abstract

Aphidius colemani (Viereck) was reported in Brazil before the Biological Control Program of Wheat Aphids (BCPWA) when Mediterranean genotypes were introduced from France and Israel. This species was re-described as a complex called A. colemani group composed of three species. Consequently, uncertainty remains about which parasitoid of the group is occurring in southern Brazil. This study has two main objectives: (i) re-examine the species status of A. colemani group collected during the introduction of parasitoids and from a 10-year (2009-2018) monitoring program in wheat fields in northern Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil; (ii) describe the variation in the population density of parasitoids and its association with meteorological factors during this period. We examined 116 specimens from the Embrapa Wheat entomological collection, and those collected in Moericke traps in Coxilha, RS. All the parasitoids of the A. colemani group from the BCPWA period were identified as Aphidius platensis (Brèthes). In traps, 6541 cereal aphid parasitoids were collected, of which 61.9% (n = 4047) were from A. colemani group and all those were identified as A. platensis. Temperature was the factor that effected population density with the highest number of parasitoids recorded in the winter months. Sex ratio changed between years varying from 0.50 to 0.97. The parasitoid A. platensis was the only species in the A. colemani group sampled during 10 years of monitoring.