Geographic structure with no evidence for host- associated lineages in European populations of Lysiphlebus testaceipes, an introduced biological control agent

0393947 - BC 2014 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Mitrović, M. - Petrović, A. - Kavallieratos, N. G. - Starý, Petr - Petrović-Obradović, O. - Tomanović, Ž. - Vorburger, C.
Geographic structure with no evidence for host- associated lineages in European populations of Lysiphlebus testaceipes, an introduced biological control agent.
Biological control. Roč. 66, č. 3 (2013), s. 150-158. ISSN 1049-9644. E-ISSN 1090-2112
Grant - others:Swiss National Science Foundation(CH) IZ73Z0_128174; Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia(RS) III43001
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50070508
Keywords : Lysiphlebus testaceipes * Microsatellite * cytochrome oxidase I
Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour
Impact factor: 1.873, year: 2013
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1049964413001084#

Lysiphlebus testaceipes (Cresson) is an aphidiine parasitoid originally introduced to Europe as a biological control agent of citrus aphids in the Mediterranean. It has rapidly become widespread in coastal areas continuing gradually to expand inland. L. testaceipes exploited a large number of aphids in Europe, including new hosts and significantly as a biological control agent of citrus aphids in the Mediterranean. of aphids in Europe, including new hosts and significantly changed the relative abundance of the native parasitoids.This behaviour may reflect a broad oligophagy of the introduced parasitoid or it may require the evolution of host specialization that results in genetically differentiated subpopulations on different hosts.We used the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I and seven microsatellite loci to analyze strusture of genetic variation for L. testaceipes samples collected from 12 different aphid hosts across seven European countries as well as some samples from Benin, Costa Rica, USA, Algeria and Libya for comparison. Only five COI haplotypes with moderate divergence were identified overall. There was no evidence for the associoation of haplotypes with different aphid hosts in the European samples, but there was geographic structuring in this variation. Haplotype diversity was highest in France, where L. testaceipes was introduced, but only a single haplotype was detected in areas of south-eastern Europe that were invaded subsequently. The analysis of microsatellite variation confirmed the lack of host-associated genetic structure, as well as the differentiation between populations from south-western and south-eastern Europe. L.testaceipes in Europe is thus an opportunistic oligophagous species with subpopulation structure shaped by the processes of introduction and expansion rather than by host exploatation.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0223233