Department of Entomology, the Volcani Center, Beit Dagan, Israel.
Faculty of Agriculture, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel.
PLoS One. 2018 Nov 7;13(11):e0205245. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205245. eCollection 2018.
Ooencyrtus spp. (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Encyrtidae) are important natural enemies of agricultural and forest insect pests, and are distributed worldwide. Their reduced dimensions, highly variable morphological characters and possible effect of wide host range and abiotic factors, make correct identification at the species level particularly difficult. This paper combined molecular, morphological, and biological data to characterize a group of Ooencyrtus spp. emerging from the eggs of the variegated caper bug, Stenozygum coloratum in the east Mediterranean area. COI and ITS2 sequencing revealed the presence of six and five divergent clades, respectively. Three clades were identified as Ooencyrtus telenomicida, Ooencyrtus pityocampae and O. pistaciae. Two clades represent new species which are here described and named Ooencyrtus zoeae and Ooencyrtus mevalbelus. These features were combined with reliable morphological characters to facilitate the separation of these species. A dichotomous key and a new synonymy are proposed. Ooencyrtus pistaciae had two distinct COI clades but only one ITS2 clade. Crossbreeding trials that included Ooencyrtus telenomicida, Ooencyrtus melvabelus sp. nov. and Ooencyrtus zoeae sp. nov. confirmed their reproductive isolation. COI sequences showed 0-0.8% and 4-9% within and between-species genetic differences, respectively. ITS2 showed 0.4-5.9% genetic differences between species, with no genetic differences within species. Haplotype diversity of Israeli and Turkish populations of the various species was 0-0.98 and was particularly low in Ooencyrtus pityocampae, whose Israeli population showed no diversity. The discovery of the Ooencyrtus spp. on the eggs of the caper bug, and their abundance support the idea that the bug can be used as an alternative host for augmentation of populations of these parasitoids in agricultural and forestry systems.
噢恩小蜂属（膜翅目，小蜂总科，恩小蜂科）是农业和森林害虫的重要天敌，分布于世界各地。它们体型较小，形态特征高度多变，可能由于宿主范围广泛和非生物因素的影响，使得在种级水平上的正确鉴定变得特别困难。本文结合分子、形态和生物学数据，对在地中海东部地区从变色荆刺盲蝽卵中孵化的噢恩小蜂属的一个群体进行了特征描述。COI 和 ITS2 测序分别揭示了 6 个和 5 个不同的分支。其中 3 个分支被鉴定为噢恩小蜂 telenomicida、噢恩小蜂 pityocampae 和噢恩小蜂 pistaciae。另外 2 个分支代表了新种，在此予以描述并命名为噢恩小蜂 zoeae 和噢恩小蜂 mevalbelus。这些特征与可靠的形态特征相结合，有助于这些物种的分离。本文提出了一个二项式关键和一个新的同物异名。噢恩小蜂 pistaciae 有两个不同的 COI 分支，但只有一个 ITS2 分支。包括噢恩小蜂 telenomicida、噢恩小蜂 melvabelus sp. nov. 和噢恩小蜂 zoeae sp. nov. 的杂交试验证实了它们的生殖隔离。COI 序列显示种内遗传差异为 0-0.8%，种间遗传差异为 4-9%。ITS2 显示种间遗传差异为 0.4-5.9%，种内无遗传差异。不同种的以色列和土耳其种群的单倍型多样性为 0-0.98，噢恩小蜂 pityocampae 的多样性特别低，其以色列种群没有多样性。噢恩小蜂属在荆刺盲蝽卵上的发现及其丰富度支持了荆刺盲蝽可作为这些寄生蜂在农业和林业系统中种群扩充的替代宿主的观点。
