Parasitoids associated with Lymantria dispar (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) and Malacosoma neustria (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) in Greece and comparative analysis of their parasitoid spectrums in Europe

Abstract

The parasitoids of European gypsy moth Lymantria d. dispar (L.) and Lackey moth Malacosoma n. neustria (L.) in Greece were investigated. In total, twelve parasitoid species emerged from different larval instars of both species. Eight primary parasitoid species were recorded: three from the family Braconidae (Hymenoptera) and five from the family Tachinidae (Diptera). Four hyperparasitoid species of Cotesia neustriae (Tobias) and Glyptapanteles porthetriae (Muesebeck) (Braconidae) were reared belonging to the families Eurytomidae, Ichneumonidae and Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera). For the first time, Lysibia nana (Gravenhorst) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) is reported as a hyperparasitoid of C. neustriae and P. porthetriae. Our results are compared with the results of an exhausting and critical review of the literature on parasitoids of L. dispar and M. neustria in Europe. The parasitoid spectrums of L. dispar and M. neustria are compared and the parasitoid species in common are listed. According to literature 169 parasitoid species were associated with the investigated moths; 76 with L. dispar and 52 with M. neustria species belong only to their spectrums, respectively and only 41 parasitoid species are shared by both species. © 2017