Telenomus nizwaensis (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae), an important egg parasitoid of the pomegranate butterfly Deudorix livia Klug (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in Oman

A Polaszek; A Al-Riyami; Z Lahey; S A Al-Khatri; R H Al-Shidi; I C W Hardy

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0250464

Telenomus nizwaensis (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae), an important egg parasitoid of the pomegranate butterfly Deudorix livia Klug (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in Oman

PLoS One. 2021 May 5;16(5):e0250464. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250464. eCollection 2021.

Authors

A Polaszek¹, A Al-Riyami^{2

3}, Z Lahey⁴, S A Al-Khatri³, R H Al-Shidi⁵, I C W Hardy²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom.
² School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
³ Directorate General of Agricultural Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.
⁴ Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America.
⁵ Plant Protection Research Centre, Directorate General of Agricultural and Livestock Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.

Abstract

The pomegranate butterfly Deudorix (= Virachola) livia is the major pest of pomegranate, a crop of economic importance, in Oman. A species of parasitoid wasp in the hymenopteran family Scelionidae is responsible for high levels of mortality of its eggs. This wasp is described herein as Telenomus nizwaensis Polaszek sp. n., based on morphology and DNA sequence data. T. nizwaensis is currently known only from D. livia, which is also a pest of economic importance on other crops in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Mediterranean. We summarise current knowledge of T. nizwaensis life-history and its potential to provide biological pest control.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Butterflies / parasitology*
Host-Parasite Interactions
Hymenoptera / physiology*
Oman
Ovum / parasitology*
Pest Control, Biological

Associated data

Dryad/10.5061/dryad.sxksn0329

Grants and funding

A. A-R: PGE055580 D.P.S/321/2017 Sultanate of Oman, Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation https://www.mohe.gov.om. We thank the Anglo-Omani Society, London UK, for assistance with publication charges. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.