Predators and Parasitoids of Aphids (Aphididae: Homoptera) Infesting Potato Crops in India
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Abstract
The present article enlists the predators and parasitoids of the aphids (Aphididae: Hemiptera) infesting potato crops and their distribution in different states and union territories of India. Most of them are found to prey/ parasitise Myzus persicae (Sulzer) and Aphis gossypii Glover and. The predators belong to one order of class Arachnida: Araneae (families Araneidae, Oxyopidae, Philodromidae) and three orders of the class Insecta: Coleoptera (family Coccinellidae), Diptera (family Syrphidae) and Neuroptera (family Chrysopidae). A total of 43 species of predators from various taxa were recorded to feed 4 species of the potato aphids distributed in 12 states/ union territories of India. The highest number of predators belonged to the families Coccinellidae (27 species) and Syrphidae (8 species). Most of the tritrophic associations (triplets, predators-preys-host plants) of these predators were reported in Uttar Pradesh (20 triplets), Manipur (19 triplets), Maharashtra and West Bengal (10 triplets each), and other states/union territories less than 10 triplets. All the parasitoids of potato aphids belong to two subfamilies Aphelininae (Aphelinidae: Hymenoptera) and Aphidiinae (Braconidae: Hymenoptera) in India. A total of 15 species of parasitoids were observed parasitising these potato aphids infesting in 10 states/union territory of India. Most of the tritrophic associations (triplets) of these parasitoids were reported from Manipur (6 triplets) followed by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand (5 triplets each) and others less than 5 triplets. Indeed, minimal attempts have been made to record the natural enemies of the potato aphids in India, and an intensive and extensive survey plan is warranted to record them in unexplored areas.
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