Entomology, Ornithology & Herpetology: Current Research
Open Access

Abstract

Molecular Identification of a Parasitic Fly (Diptera: Tachinidae) from the Introduced Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Brazil

Guerra WD, Guerra ALLD, Ribas LN, Gonçalves RM and Mastrangelo T

The African cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera Hubner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) was detected in Brazil, triggering a major phytosanitary crisis during the 2012/2013 harvest. Despite its recent introduction, larvae were found being parasitized by indigenous dipterans with estimated parasitism rates even higher than 30% at some localities. Two of these flies from the municipality of Campo Verde, Central-East Mato Grosso, were sent to the State University of Campinas to be identified through mitochondrial DNA. Partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene were obtained and matched more than 99% with Archytas marmoratus Towsen (Diptera: Tachinidae) known sequences from BOLD database. The pairwise genetic distances (K2P and p-distance) between the two Brazilian specimens and the 14 other tachinid species were all higher than 4%. The findings of this study serve as first evidence that an indigenous species of tachinid exists in Brazil that may be a good biological agent for the exotic H. armigera.