SHOULD NEOCLASSICAL BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENTS FROM ARGENTINA BE RELEASED IN CALIFORNIA FOR CONTROL OF THE GLASSY-WINGED SHARPSHOOTER?

• Author(s): Hoddle, Mark;
• Abstract: Gonatocerus tuberculifemur and G. sp. 6. morrilli complex are two sharpshooter parasitoids from Argentina that have been held at the UC Riverside I & Q facility since September 2002 and reared on glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS; Homalodisca vitripennis; formerly H. coagulata) egg masses. There is substantial uncertainty about the safety of releasing these agents and whether they would provide additional control of GWSS in California or disrupt the efficacy of the existing parasitoid complex which has been constructed with natural enemies that have evolved to exploit GWSS. The purpose of this grant is to ascertain in Quarantine whether these two neoclassical biological control agents from Argentina can outperform the dominant GWSS parasitoid in California, G. ashmeadi. These data will help guide the decision to release the Argentinean parasitoids from quarantine for liberation and establishment in California. Work has not commenced on this project as the quarantine colony was recently infused with new blood from specimens collected in Argentina in August 2006.
• Publication Date: Nov 2006
• Journal: 2006 Pierce's Disease Research Symposium