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8 April 2020 Natural Enemies of the Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Ghana
Djima Koffi, Rosina Kyerematen, Vincent Y. Eziah, Komi Agboka, Medetissi Adom, Georg Goergen, Robert L. Meagher
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Abstract

The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is an invasive insect pest attacking maize in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa countries. Biological control will need to be an important management strategy, and a first step was to identify potential natural enemies. Sampling was conducted in different localities of the 10 regions of Ghana from May to Nov 2017. A total of 1,062 larvae were collected from 106 maize farms, and the presence of natural enemies was recorded in 18 (17.0%) farms. Among natural enemies recorded, 7 species were parasitoids: Chelonus bifoveolatus Szpligeti, Coccygidium luteum (Brull), Cotesia icipe Fernandez, Meteoridea testacea (Granger), and Bracon sp. (all Hymenoptera: Braconidae), Anatrichus erinaceus Loew (Diptera: Chloropidae), and an undetermined tachinid fly (Diptera: Tachinidae). The parasitism rate was 3.58%. Three predator species were collected: Pheidole megacephala (F.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Haematochares obscuripennis Stål, and Peprius nodulipes (Signoret) (both Heteroptera: Reduviidae). The 2 most abundant parasitoids were C. bifoveolatus and C. luteum with a relative abundance of 29.0% and 23.7%, respectively, and a parasitism rate of 1.04% and 0.85%, respectively. However, C. bifoveolatus was the most dispersed parasitoid, found in 6.6% of the inspected sites within all the agroecological zones of Ghana. This species is a good candidate as a biological control agent for fall armyworm in Africa. The predator that was most abundant (46.0%) and dispersed (3.8% of the farms) was P. megacephala.

Djima Koffi, Rosina Kyerematen, Vincent Y. Eziah, Komi Agboka, Medetissi Adom, Georg Goergen, and Robert L. Meagher "Natural Enemies of the Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Ghana," Florida Entomologist 103(1), 85-90, (8 April 2020). https://doi.org/10.1653/024.103.0414
Published: 8 April 2020
KEYWORDS
biological control
Coccygidium
Cotesia bifoveolatus
Pheidole megacephala
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