Redistributing adventive Trissolcus japonicus (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae): A 5-year case study in Virginia

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

4:18 PM – 4:30 PM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 208/209

Presenting Author(s)

James C. Bergh

Professor of High Value Horticultural Crops Entomology
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Winchester, Virginia

Co-Author(s)

ET

Elijah Talamas

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Gainesville, Florida
SB

Samuel N. Brandt

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Winchester, Virginia
AE

Ashley Edwards

Virginia Cooperative Extension
Hillsville, Virginia
CM

Cynthia MacRae

Virginia Cooperative Extension
Lovingston, Virginia
EB

Eric Bowen

Virginia Cooperative Extension
Lovingston, Virginia
GM

Grace Monger

Virginia Cooperative Extension
Lovingston, Virginia
KL

Kate Lawrence

Virginia Cooperative Extension
Fincastle, Virginia
KR

Kathleen Reed

Virginia Cooperative Extension
Blacksburg, Virginia

Trissolcus japonicus (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) is a co-evolved and predominant egg parasitoid of brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in east Asia, where it has shown high rates of H. halys egg parasitism. Since about 2010, H. halys has become widely distributed in the USA, significantly impacting the production of numerous specialty crops through its herbivory, thus prompting research on its biocontrol agents in North America. The first adventive T. japonicus population in the USA was discovered in Maryland in 2014, and its initial detection in Frederick county, Virginia, in the northwest of the state, occurred in 2015. Surveillance for T. japonicus revealed that its abundance and distribution in Frederick county have increased markedly since 2015, although no detections occurred in neighboring counties. Consequently, a project to promote the establishment and wider distribution of T. japonicus in Virginia was initiated in 2018. In 2018 and 2020, egg masses of H. halys parasitized by T. japonicus were placed at nine sites near tree fruit orchards from the northern to southwest regions of Virginia. Surveillance for T. japonicus and H. halys was conducted prior to the initial release of T. japonicus in 2018, and post-release surveillance occurred annually through 2022. Sampling for T. japonicus and H. halys, respectively, utilized yellow sticky cards deployed in the canopy of H. halys host trees and pheromone-baited sticky panels. Detections of T. japonicus and captures of H. halys across the release sites during the five-year study are summarized.