Egg Parasitoid Complex of the Corn Leafhopper, Dalbulus maidis (DeLong) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), in Argentina

Abstract

The corn leafhopper, Dalbulus maidis (DeLong), is the most important leafhopper pest of maize, Zea mays, in the Americas. A survey of the diversity of its egg parasitoids was carried out in northwestern Argentina. During summer from 2004 to 2007, the samples were collected, using sentinel eggs of D. maidis on corn leaves, exposed in 48 cornfields. Sixteen species belonging to four families of Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera) were identified. Among the parasitoid groups, Trichogrammatidae was the most represented family with eight species, followed by Mymaridae with six species. The mymarid Anagrus incarnatus Haliday and the trichogrammatid Pseudoligosita longifrangiata (Viggiani) were the most abundant and frequent parasitoids. The mean percentage of parasitism of D. maidis eggs was 16.4% and varied greatly among the sites, ranging from 0 to 56.7%; generally, it was higher in Yungas and lower in Monte province sites. The species richness was higher in the localities within the Yungas, with 13 parasitoid species, of which two species were dominant, comprising 83.6% of the collected individuals. Monte was the province that showed the highest diversity index (H´ = 1.62). In addition, we present information on the distribution, known host associations of each parasitoid species and an identification key to all species of egg parasitoids of D. maidis in Argentina.