Symposium in Spain addresses important order of insect pests

Researcher Simone Prado, from Embrapa Meio Ambiente (Jaguariúna, SP) was in Madrid, Spain, at the 3rd Hemipteran-Plant Interactions Symposium, from June 4 to 8, 2017 to present the work “Influence of symbionts in the biology of Heteropteran insects”, written by him and “Classical biological control of Diaphorina citri Kuwayama in citrus crops in Brazil”, written by Luiz Alexandre Sá, also a researcher at Embrapa Meio Ambiente in co-authorship with Simome.

The researcher explains that the suborder Heteroptera comprises around 37 thousand described species and perhaps 25 thousand still unknown. Heteroptera belong to the order Hemiptera, which comprises important pests of agricultural crops throughout the world. They are important not only for causing direct damage, but also as transmitters (vectors) of plant diseases.

Associations between these insects and symbionts have recently been characterized due to advances in molecular biology and may influence insect development. Many symbionts are essential for the development of insects, and therefore the characterization of this association can be used in the development of methods to control these pests.

The work carried out at the Quarantine Laboratory "Costa Lima" (LQC) at Embrapa Meio Ambiente by Luiz Alexandre de Sá addressed classic biological control of Diaphorina citri in Brazil, through the process of importing the exotic endoparasitoid Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), USA.

According to the researcher, this bioagent has shown great potential for the biological control of this citrus pest in semi-arid regions of western California. The establishment of the population of this parasitoid D. aligarhensis under quarantine conditions is being carried out for subsequent request for quarantine release for its use in Integrated Citrus Pest Management (IPM-Citros) in the country's citrus orchards.

This Symposium was the third to be held, being the first in Brazil and the second in the USA, it brought together researchers from the area of ​​Agricultural Sciences, including entomologists, physiologists, and biologists with knowledge of phytophagous hemipterans and their interactions aiming at the management of important crops and the pest and disease control. According to the researcher, the most important issue was the detection of the bacterium , in olive trees and entry into the European continent.