ARI Biennial Review for 2018-2019

ENTOMOLOGY Fruit fly pest prevention and management in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean In parts of the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean, the Mediterranean fruit fly ( Ceratitis capitata ) causes major damage to fruit production. Medfly reduces fruit production and increases insecticide use, and therefore exerts a direct impact on the production cost of agricultural comodities. Moreover, the recent introduction of exotic fruit fly species, such as the peach fruit fly, Bacrocera zonata , and the species of the oriental fruit fly complex Bactrocera dorsalis , in North Africa and the Middle East, poses a high threat to fruit and vegetable production of the Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean. To cope with the high risk of infestation from fruit flies, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) initiated a project with main objectives the knowledge-sharing among the countries of the region and the development and support of selected fruit fly suppression programmes. ARI is one of the institutions from 12 countries that participate in the project. (N.A. Seraphides) Rearing of beneficial insect populations Wide applications of chemicals to control insect pests generate many drawbacks concerning agriculture, environment and human health. By releasing natural enemies to control insect pests, the above drawbacks could be greatly reduced. For this purpose, populations of natural enemies of greenhouse pests, such as the parasitic wasp Diglyphus isaea against leafminers ( Liriomyza sp.), the predatory bug Macrolophus pygmaeus against whiteflies, thrips etc., the lacewing Chrysoperla carnea against aphids, whiteflies etc., and the predatory bug Nesidiocoris tenuis against lepidopteran eggs, aphids etc., are reared at the main insectary of ARI. (N.A. Seraphides) Management of the tomato borer Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechidae) Tuta Absoluta is a devastating pest of tomato and other solanaceous crops. Following its introduction into Europe, North America and the Middle East, T. absoluta has already caused extensive economic damage to tomato production. In cooperation with the University of Cyprus, the intra and inter-specific interactions between two predators, Nesidiocoris tenuis and Macrolophus pygmaeus feeding on T. absoluta eggs were investigated. Results showed that N. tenuis is a more competitive predator species for T. absoluta eggs than M. pygmaeus , however, combination of the two predator species will lead to better pest suppression at high T. absoluta population densities. (N.A. Seraphides) Susceptibility of the tomato borer Tuta absoluta to insecticides Resistance of Tuta Absoluta to numerous insecticides has been reported, and it is mainly due to the fact that farmers do not follow a sustainable resistance management scheme. In order to develop a successful insecticide- resistance management strategy, nine Cypriot populations of T. absoluta were subjected to laboratory bioassays using four main insecticides applied by Cypriot farmers to control it. Results showed that the insecticides chlorantraniliprole and indoxacarb could not control the Cypriot T. absoluta anymore, while the insecticides emamectin benzoate and spinosad are still very effective. (N.A. Seraphides) DNA barcoding identification of microlepidoptera species infesting Juniperus foetidissima berries DNA sequences from an approximately 700 bp fragment of the COI gene were analysed from nine species collected from J. foetidissima berries in the Troodos forest area of Cyprus. Sequencing data were deposited in the NCBI GenBank database as the Accession Numbers of KY989993-KY989995 and MF001914-MF001919. DNA bold identification results of the four Lepidoptera samples revealed 99.5-99.83% similarity with P. mariana 46 PLANT PROTECTION