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Genetic variability on worldwide populations of the scale insect Pulvinariella mesembryanthemi

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Abstract

The South African scale insect Pulvinariella mesembryanthemi was introduced worldwide in several coastal areas with Mediterranean climate, probably through infested plants of Carpobrotus sp. Its high host specificity and its capacity to produce severe damages in the invasive Carpobrotus sp. plants makes this insect a potential biocontrol agent. To test the efficiency and host range of insects used for biocontrol, population genetic studies can help to unravel cryptic complexes and intraspecific diversity. In this study we performed a genetic analysis including native and exotic populations of P. mesembryanthemi, through Sanger sequencing of mitochondrial (cytochrome c oxidase I, COI) and ribosomal (D2–D3 expansion segments of the large subunit ribosomal RNA gene 28S) gene fragments. Accidentally, an endosymbiont was sequenced with one of the pair of primers used. The exotic populations of the insect did not show any variability among populations for both studied genes, which suggest a common origin of all studied introduced populations. Contrastingly, native populations showed high variability and seemed to be a cryptic species complex. Moreover, the Gauteng populations (from NE South Africa) were phylogenetically the closest to the exotic ones, suggesting that the exotic populations could be original from somewhere near this area. An endosymbiont of P. mesembryanthemi was detected, and the sequenced coxA gene was similar to that of the Rickettsiaceae family from the α-Proteobacteria, and close to other insect endosymbionts. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first mention of this endosymbiont in P. mesembryanthemi, although α-Proteobacteria endosymbionts have been reported for other sap-sucking insects.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Íñigo Sánchez García, Jesús R. Aboal Viñas, José Rafael González López, Kate McCombs, Serafín J. González Prieto and Stefan Neser for providing biological samples for this study. We are also grateful to Pilar Soengas for her suggestions to improve the paper and to Serafín J. González Prieto and the CoBIG2 group for their advice and assistance. The participation of Cristina Vieites-Blanco was supported by a pre-doctoral fellowship by Xunta de Galicia and an internship grant by Santander Universidades.

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  1. Computational Biology and Population Genomics Group (CoBiG2), cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    Cristina Vieites-Blanco, Octávio S. Paulo & Eduardo Marabuto

  2. Área de Ecoloxía, Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, R/Lope Gómez de Marzoa, s/n, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Cristina Vieites-Blanco & Margarita Lema

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Vieites-Blanco, C., Paulo, O.S., Marabuto, E. et al. Genetic variability on worldwide populations of the scale insect Pulvinariella mesembryanthemi. Biol Invasions 22, 735–748 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-019-02125-3

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