Integrative taxonomy methods reveal high mealybug (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) diversity in southern Brazilian fruit crops

PubMedID: 29147020The Serra Gaúcha region is the most important temperate fruit-producing area in southern Brazil. Despite mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) infesting several host plants in the region, there is a lack of information about the composition of species damaging different crops. A survey of mealybug species associated with commercial fruit crops (apple, persimmon, strawberry and grapes) was performed in Serra Gaúcha between 2013 and 2015, using both morphology and DNA analyses for species identification. The most abundant species were Pseudococcus viburni (Signoret), found on all four host plant species, and Dysmicoccus brevipes (Cockerell), infesting persimmon, vines and weeds. The highest diversity of mealybug species was found on persimmon trees, hosting 20 different taxa, of which Anisococcus granarae Pacheco da Silva & Kaydan, D. brevipes, Pseudococcus sociabilis Hambleton and Ps. viburni were the most abundant. A total of nine species were recorded in vineyards. Planococcus ficus (Signoret) and Pseudococcus longispinus (Targioni Tozzetti) were observed causing damage to grapes for the first time. A single species, Ps. viburni, was found associated with apples, while both Ps. viburni and Ferrisia meridionalis Williams were found on strawberry. Four of the mealybug species found represent new records for Brazil. © 2017 The Author(s).Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico 269196 Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior Generalitat de Catalunya 324475We are grateful to Elisangela Caroline W. Galzer and the entire team from the Entomology Laboratory of Embrapa Uva e Vinho for their support; to Aurélie Blin and Didier Crochard from INRA - Institut Sophia Agrobiotech for their support with the molecular characterization; to Silvestrin fruit distributor and all the producers for allowing the search for mealybugs on their crops; to SPGG team for the permission to use of the Serra Gaúcha map; to CAPES and CNPq for the scholarship awarded to the first author and for financial support from the FP7 Marie Curie IRSES project “IPRABIO” #269196 and the IAPP project “Colbics” #324475. FP acknowledges a postdoctoral contract funded by the Beatriu de Pinos Programme of the Generalitat de Catalunya