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14 January 2020 A Rare, Recently Discovered Nematode, Oscheius onirici (Rhabditida: Rhabditidae), Kills Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) Within Fruit
Shane Foye, Shawn A. Steffan
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Abstract

The spotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii Matsumura, is an exotic species in North America and represents a major threat to fruit production. Efforts to manage D. suzukii have focused primarily on insecticides, but such controls may, at times, be unreliable, given that D. suzukii larvae are often ensconced within fruit.The fruit interior, however, may represent suitable foraging substrates for carnivorous/entomopathogenic nematodes. In preliminary trials, a rare nematode species, Oscheius onirici Torrini et al., was shown to be highly virulent against D. suzukii when the nematodes were applied directly to fly larvae. To address the more important question of whether this nematode would be as virulent when applied to fruit, we set up assays in which blueberries were infested with D. suzukii larvae and then sprayed with O. onirici infective juveniles (IJs). Across two laboratory trials, O. onirici IJs suppressed D. suzukii puparia by 78.2%. Oscheius onirici IJs were able to search effectively within fruit substrates, find the fly larvae therein, and kill the flies before they could pupariate. Oscheius onirici, therefore, may represent a viable new bio-control agent for D. suzukii management and should be field-tested across a broader diversity of cropping systems.

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America 2020. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.
Shane Foye and Shawn A. Steffan "A Rare, Recently Discovered Nematode, Oscheius onirici (Rhabditida: Rhabditidae), Kills Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) Within Fruit," Journal of Economic Entomology 113(2), 1047-1051, (14 January 2020). https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toz365
Received: 11 October 2019; Accepted: 19 December 2019; Published: 14 January 2020
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KEYWORDS
Drosophila suzukii
Heterorhabditis georgiana
Oscheius onirici
spotted-wing
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