Morpho-phylogenetic evidence of Eretmocerus sp. (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) parasitism in Camellia spiny whitefly, Aleurocanthus camelliae (Hemiptera:Aleyrodidae) in Japan

The camellia spiny whitefly (CaSW) (Aleurocanthus camelliae (Kanmiya & Kasai, 2011) is invasive whitefly that belongs to the family Aleyrodidae and has long been considered as a pest of tea in China. CaSW was firstly recorded in a tea field in Uji, Kyoto, in 2004 and might have been introduced from China by the trading of Theaceae plants, as occurred in a somewhat similar case in Europe (Netherland and Italy). There are a few natural enemies recorded in Japan, which are entomopathogenic fungi, Conoideocrella luteorostrata (Zimm.), and parasitoid wasp Encarsia smithi (Silvestri). However, in August 2020 in Kyoto, Eretmocerus wasp was observed associated with CaSW in the tea field. A similar parasitoid wasp then also observed emerged from CaSW nymphs collected from Shizuoka city in November 2020. The identification of Eretmocerus wasp was conducted morphologically which initially starts from comparing recorded species of Eretmocerus in Japan as a putative, and then molecularly by analyzed the 28S region D2 and D3 genes. Morpho-molecular identification suggested that Eretmocerus sp. parasitized CaSW is unrecorded species in Japan. In addition, the species-specific multiplex PCR primer sets then were developed and have been confirmed earlier parasitism of Eretmocerus sp. from nymphs collected in January 2020. A further taxonomic study is needed to confirm the identity and their origin.