Roberto A. Zucchi

Trichogramma in Brazil: feasibility of use after twenty years of research

Results of studies with Trichogramma in Brazil are presented, especially those developed at ESALQ/USP in the past two decades (1984-2004). The project involved taxonomy, rearing techniques, biological and behavioral aspects of the pests and parasitoids, pest population dynamics, release techniques, selectivity studies, and efficiency evaluation. It can be considered a model project and has been adopted by other biological control programs in Brazil and Latin America. The program has given rise to a number of publications, allowing the formation of human resources in this area and opening new research areas. The results indicated that the parasitoid can be used to control key pests in cotton, sugarcane, stored grain, vegetables, corn, soybean, and tomato. The perspective of using the parasitoid has stimulated the creation of companies to commercialize it in Brazil, thus more easily transferring this technology to users.

Phylogenetic Relationships Among Species of the fraterculus Group (Anastrepha: Diptera: Tephritidae) Inferred from DNA Sequences of Mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I

A fragment of 808 base pairs within the mtDNA gene cytochrome oxidase I (COI) was analyzed for 15 species of Anastrepha: 12 within the fraterculus group, one unplaced species and two outgroups. Phylogenetic relationships among the included taxa were inferred using neighbor-joining and maximum parsimony methods. The average Jukes-Cantor genetic distance among the species was 0.033±0.006 and the level of sequence divergence ranged from 0.0 to 0.083. Our results of COI indicate the placement of A. acris Stone, an unplaced species, in the fraterculus group. The membership of A. barbiellinii Lima in the fraterculus group and the monophyly of the aforementioned group are also discussed. Moreover, the presence of multiple gene pools in the nominal species A. fraterculus (Wiedemann) and the nonmonophyly of A. fraterculus are corroborated by data obtained in our study. The species A. amita Zucchi, A. turpiniae Stone and A. zenildae Zucchi were genetically studied for the first time.

Egg parasitoids in agroecosystems with emphasis on Trichogramma

1. Reproduction and Immature Development of Egg Parasitoids Guy Boivin.- 2. Nutritional Ecology of Insect Egg Parasitoids S. Bradleigh Vinson.- 3. Antennal Structures Used in Communication by Egg Parasitoids Roberto Romani, Nunzio Isidoro, Ferdinando Bin.- 4. Host Searching by Egg Parasitoids: Exploitation of Host Chemical Cues Stefano Colazza, Ezio Peri, Gianandrea Salerno, Eric Conti.- 5. Genetics of the Behavioral Ecology of Egg Parasitoids Eric Wajnberg.- 6. Sex Ratio Modulators of Egg Parasitoids James Russell, Richard Stouthamer.- 7. Systematics of the Trichogrammatidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) with a Focus on the Genera Attacking Lepidoptera Ranyse B Querino, Roberto A Zucchi, John D. Pinto.- 8. Diversity and hosts of Trichogramma in the New World, with emphasis in South America Roberto A Zucchi, Ranyse B Querino, Renata C Monteiro.- 9. Species Diversity and Host Associations of Trichogramma in Eurasia Andrew Polaszek.- 10. Mass Rearing of Egg Parasitoids for Biological Control Programs Jose Roberto Postali Parra.- 11. In vitro Rearing of Egg Parasitoids Fernando L Consoli, Simon Grenier.- 12. Quality Control of Mass Reared Egg Parasitoids Joop C. van Lenteren, Franz Bigler.- 13. Biological Control with Egg Parasitoids other than Trichogramma - the Citrus and Grape Cases Jorge E. Pena, Josep A. Jacas, Serguei Tryapsin, Bryan J. Ulmer, R. E. Duncan.- 14. Egg Parasitoid Commercialization in the New World Jose Roberto Postali Parra.- 15. Egg Parasitoids in Biological Control and Integrated Pest Management Nick Mills.- 16. Risk Assessment and Non-Target Effects of Egg Parasitoids in Biological Control Franz Bigler, Dirk Babendreier, Joop C. van Lenteren.- 17. Genetically Modified Crops and Biological Control with Egg Parasitoids Julio S Bernal.

Faunistic insect analysis for environmental change evaluation

Environmental changes at the experimental area of the Department of Entomology, University of Sao Paulo, in Piracicaba, in a period of 25 years, were evaluated using a faunistc insect analysis of samples collected by light traps in 1965/66 and 1990/91. A reduction of 35.1% in the faunistic index between these two periods was recorded. Consequently, the diversity index also decreased by 60.3% due to the low number of insects collected. These indices suggest a considerable environmental change in the experimental area over this 25 years period.

Species Diversity of Frugivorous Flies (Diptera: Tephritoidea) from Hosts in the Cerrado of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Thirty-five fruit species were sampled in seven municipalities located in the cerrado of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (January 1993 to March 1997) in a study to evaluate the infestation by frugivorous flies. Species of six genera of Tephritoidea were reared from 29 host fruits: Anastrepha Schiner, Ceratitis MacLeay (Tephritidae); Dasiops Rondani, Lonchaea Fallen, Neosilba McAlpine, (Lonchaeidae) and Notogramma Loew (Otitidae). Fruit flies (Tephritidae) were found in 19 host fruits and were represented by 11 species: Anastrepha fraterculus (Wied.), A. grandis (Macquart), A. montei Lima, A. obliqua (Macquart), A. pickeli Lima, A. sororcula Zucchi, A. striata Schiner, A. turpiniae Stone, A. zenildae Zucchi, Anastrepha n. sp. and Ceratitis capitata (Wied.). From Lonchaeidae were reared: Dasiops inedulis Steyskal, Dasiops spp., Lonchaea spp., Neosilba zadolicha McAlpine and Neosilba spp. The species of Neosilba were the most abundant, occourring in 22 host fruits. Notogramma was the only genus of Otitidae obtained. The association between frugivorous flies and the fruit species is discussed.

Espécies de Frankliniella (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) de importância agrícola no Brasil

Six Frankliniella species: F. brevicaulis Hood, F. condei John, F. occidentalis (Pergande), F. schultzei (Trybom), F. williamsi Hood and F. zucchini Nakahara & Monteiro are pests in Brazil, three of them are virus-vector. A key to distinguish these species is provided, as well as their morphological characterization.

Análise quantitativa e distribuição de populações de espécies de Anastrepha (Diptera: Tephritidae) no campus Luiz de Queiroz, Piracicaba, SP

The distribution of females of Anastrepha species per trap was strongly clustered, with five traps (6%) capturing 50% of the total of females. Only Anastrepha fraterculus (Wied.) and A. obliqua (Macquart) were dominant species. A. fraterculus was by far the most frequent species (80.2% of the females), and the most constant, occurring in 98.0% of the samples. In decreasing order of frequency, A. obliqua (12.6%), A. pseudoparallela (Loew) (3.1%), and A. bistrigata Bezzi (2.1%) comprised the other major species. The remaining species showed frequency lower than 1%. The high value of the Simpsons index (0.660) as well as the low values of Shannons index (0.7518) and the equitability index (0.4597) resulted from the high frequency of A. fraterculus.

Moscas-das-frutas (Diptera: Tephritidae) no Semi-Árido do Rio Grande do Norte: plantas hospedeiras e índices de infestação

Fruit flies were collected in traps and also reared from fruits in the semi-arid of the State of Rio Grande do Norte, from January 1999 to December 2000. Ten fruit fly species were obtained: Anastrepha alveata Stone, A. dissimilis Stone, A. distincta Greene, A. montei Lima, A. obliqua (Macquart), A. pickeli Lima, A. sororcula Zucchi, A. zenildae Zucchi, Anastrepha sp. aff. pickeli, and Ceratitis capitata (Wied.). Seventeen out of the 41 fruit tree species sampled were infested at least by one fruit fly species. New host records are: A. sororcula from Spondias sp., A. zenildae from Spondias sp., West Indian cherry (Malpighia emarginata DC.) and kumquat (Fortunella sp.), Anastrepha sp. aff. pickeli from Manihot glaziovii Muell. and C. capitata from Spondias tuberosa Arruda, Crateva tapia L.and Ziziphus joazeiro Mart. The main host plants for Anastrepha spp. were Z. joazeiro, Spondias sp. and guava (Psidium guajava L.) and for C. capitata was red coat plum (Spondias purpurea L.). The most infested host plant of Anastrepha spp. was Z. joazeiro (67.7 puparia/kg) and by C. capitata was kumquat [Fortunella japonica (Thunb.) (159.1 puparia/kg)].

Diversity and seasonality of fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae and Lonchaeidae) and their parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae and Figitidae) in orchards of guava, loquat and peach.

This work was carried out in orchards of guava progenies, and loquat and peach cultivars, in Monte Alegre do Sul, SP, Brazil, in 2002 and 2003. Guavas and loquats were bagged and unbagged bi-weekly and weekly, respectively, for assessment of the infestation period. Peach was only bagged weekly. The assays started when the fruits were at the beginning of development, but still green. Ripe fruits were taken to the laboratory and placed individually into plastic cups. McPhail plastic traps containing torula yeast were hung from January 2002 to January 2004 to assess the fruit fly population in each orchard, but only the Ceratitis capitata population is here discussed. Five tephritid species were reared from the fruits: Anastrepha bistrigata Bezzi, A. fraterculus (Wiedemann), A. obliqua (Macquart), A. sororcula Zucchi, and C. capitata, in addition to six lonchaeid species: Neosilba certa (Walker), N. glaberrima (Wiedemann), N. pendula (Bezzi), N. zadolicha McAlpine and Steyskal, Neosilba sp. 4, and Neosilba sp. 10 (both species are in the process of being described by P. C. Strikis), as well as some unidentified Neosilba species. Ten parasitoid species were obtained from fruit fly puparia, of which five were braconids: Asobara anastrephae (Muesebeck), Doryctobracon areolatus (Szépligeti), D. brasiliensis (Szépligeti), Opius bellus Gahan, and Utetes anastrephae (Viereck), and five figitids: Aganaspis pelleranoi (Brèthes), Dicerataspis grenadensis Ashmead, Lopheucoila anastrephae (Rhower), Leptopilina boulardi (Barbotin, Carlton and Kelner-Pillaut), and Trybliographa infuscata Diaz, Gallardo and Uchôa. Ceratitis capitata showed a seasonal behavior with population density peaking at the second semester of each year. Anastrepha and Neosilba species remained in the orchards throughout both years.

Molecular key to seven Brazilian species of Trichogramma (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) using sequences of the ITS2 region and restriction analysis

Using the ITS2 sequences of the ribosomal DNA together with some restriction enzymes, a simple and precise molecular key to some Brazilian species of Trichogramma was created. This key is very easy to make and quick results can be obtained on the identification of this minute parasitoid (0.25 mm). The methodology presented is easily implemented and can be used to detect possible contaminations under laboratory rearings.