Page 35 - Volume 6, Issue 2, July 2013
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© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
1
Laboratory of Biological Control and
2
Laboratory of
Agricultural Entomology, Department of Entomolo-
gy and Agricultural Zoology, Benaki Phytopatholog-
ical Institute, 8 St. Delta Str., GR-145 61 Kifissia (Ath-
ens), Greece.
Corresponding author:
Hellenic Plant Protection Journal
6:
83-85, 2013
SHORT COMMUNICATION
First record of
Sphegigaster
Spinola (Hymenoptera:
Pteromalidae) in Greece
G.K. Partsinevelos
1
, D.C. Kontodimas
2
, A. Michaelakis
2
and P.G. Milonas
1
Summary
The genus
Sphegigaster
Spinola (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is recorded for the first time
in Greece. Adult endoparasitoids emerged from parasitized pupae of the asparagus miner
Hexomyza
simplex
(Loew)
(Diptera: Agromyzidae) which had been collected in Orestiada region in 2003.
Additional keywords
: asparagus, Chalcidoidea, Diptera, distribution, parasitoid
The asparagus miner
Hexomyza simplex
(Loew)
(Diptera: Agromyzidae) is an impor-
tant pest of asparagus crop. Damage be-
gins as feeding larvae
destroy the sub epi-
dermal cells of the cortex and continue by
burrowing mines in the small stems and the
young shoots until they complete larval de-
velopment. Moreover, larval feeding causes
also qualitative degradation and deforma-
tion of the shoots, acquiring a bitter taste,
while becoming more susceptible to infes-
tations by pathogens such as
Fusarium ox-
ysporum
Schlecht (Hypocreales: Nectriace-
ae) and
Fusarium proliferatum
Matsushima
,
Nirenberg (Hypocreales: Nectriaceae) (Hig-
ley and Pedigo, 1984; Morrison
et al
., 2011).
In Greece,
H. simplex
was first recorded
in the region of Orestiada in 2002 and two
years later, in 2004, in the region of Kava-
la, Giannitsa and Aitoloakarnania (Anagnou
et al
., 2003; Anagnou
et al
., 2004). During a
monitoring survey of
H. simplex
in Orestia-
da region in 2003 – 2004, regular stem sam-
plings from asparagus fields and records of
captures in yellow glue traps, were taken
fortnightly. The samples were placed into
plastic bags, transferred and examined at
the Department of Entomology and Agricul-
tural Zoology in Benaki Phytopathological
Institute. Pupae of
H. simplex
were dissected
from the infested stems and maintained in
the laboratory at 25
°
C, 12:12 L:D h, until adult
emergence. A number of pupae were ob-
served to be parasitized. Specimens of par-
asitoids emerged were kept in Eppendorf
tubes and four of them were sent for iden-
tification to the Natural History Museum of
London. The specimens belonged to two
different species of the genus
Sphegigaster
Spinola (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Iden-
tification was done by Dr John Noyes. The
specimens have been deposited in the Nat-
ural History Museum of London and in the
Benaki Phytopathological Institute.
This is the first record of the genus
Sphe-
gigaster
in Greece. Moreover, it is the first re-
port of
Sphegigaster
associated with
H. sim-
plex
(Noyes, 2012). There are a few records
of
Sphegigaster
associated with
Hexomyza
species but not for
H. simplex
(Noyes, 2012).
The genus
Sphegigaster
contains endopar-
asitoid wasps. It is a virtually cosmopolitan
genus, represented worldwide by about 80
described species with many yet to be dis-
covered. Due to lack of studies there are not
sufficient data for the biology, ecology and
morphology of this genus (Noyes, 2012 per-
