Coccinellidae, Latreille, 1807

González, Guillermo, Kondo, Takumasa, Gasca-Álvarez, Héctor Jaime, Sandoval-Espinel, Madelyn Katherine, Niño-Suárez, Mayra Alejandra & Moreno, Maira Alejandra Zambrano, 2024, Coccinellidae (Coleoptera: Coccinelloidea) from Colombia: A systematic and illustrated list, Zootaxa 5478 (1), pp. 1-172 : 6-7

Coccinellidae and biological control in Colombia

Colombia has a long history in the implementation of biological pest control, for which species of the family Coccinellidae are important as predators. Several recent studies have been published on this topic in the country ( Cotes 2018 a, 2018b; Kondo et al. 2020). These publications include works related to predators ( Kondo et al. 2018), parasitoids ( Löhr et al. 2018), and climate change in relation to the biological control of insects ( León et al. 2018), among other topics. Kondo et al. (2020) carried out a detailed review of the history of biological control in Colombia, recognizing four hotspots of biological control in the country, each related to a particular crop or specific production system (e.g. oil palm, sugarcane, coffee, and vegetables and ornamentals in greenhouses). The first documented cases of biological control in Colombia include studies to control the woolly apple aphid, Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausmann, 1802) ( Hemiptera : Aphididae ), with the use of the parasitoid wasp, Aphelinus mali (Haldeman, 1851) ( Hymenoptera : Aphelinidae ), introduced from the United States in 1933 ( Hagen & Franz 1973) and to control a population outbreak of Icerya sp. ( Hemiptera : Monophlebidae ) on imported acacias with the use of the vedalia beetle, Novius cardinalis ( Mulsant, 1850) ( Coleoptera : Coccinellidae ), in 1948 ( Valenzuela 1993). In the sixties, Hippodamia convergens ( Guérin-Méneville, 1842) , was imported from Peru to control the aphid Aphis gossypii Glover, 1887 ( Hemiptera : Aphididae ), in cotton crops ( Smith & Bellotti 1996).

In Colombia there are more than 52 officially registered companies that produce biological control agents (entomopathogenic fungi, bacteria, nematodes, baculoviruses and antagonistic microorganisms), predators and parasitoids ( Kondo et al. 2020). However, there are few studies on biological pest control using predators and Coccinellidae in particular. Most of the information has been obtained through field studies and remarks. The coccinellid Stethorus sp. was reported by Bellotti et al. (2005) as a predator of the cassava green mite, Mononychellus tanajoa (Bondar, 1938) (Acari: Tetranychidae ), along with other predatory arthropod species such as Holobus minutus (Cameron, 1931) ( Coleoptera : Staphylinidae ), certain mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae ), and the lacewing, Chrysopa sp. ( Neuroptera : Chrysopidae ). Several species of coccinellids, such as Diomus sp. , Pentilia castanea Mulsant, 1850 , Cryptolaemus sp. and Scymnus sp. , have been reported controlling pests on citrus trees in Colombia, and Cryptognatha spp. are known to control the citrus snow scale, Unaspis citri (Comstock, 1883) ( Hemiptera : Diaspididae ) ( León & Kondo 2017).

For the control of the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, 1908 ( Hemiptera : Liviidae ), a natural insect vector of the bacteria that causes Huanglongbing disease of citrus trees, in the department of Valle del Cauca, nine coccinellid species have been recorded: Azya orbigera Mulsant, 1850 , Cheilomenes sexmaculata ( Fabricius, 1781) , Chilocorus cf. cacti ( Linnaeus, 1767) , Curinus colombianus Chapin, 1965 , Cycloneda sanguinea ( Linnaeus, 1763) , Harmonia axyridis ( Pallas, 1773) , Hippodamia convergens , Olla v-nigrum ( Mulsant, 1866) and Scymnus rubicundus Erichson, 1847 ( Kondo et al. 2017). Among these, C. sexmaculata stands out because it exerts important control ( Kondo et al. 2018); a single third-instar larva is capable of consuming 90 to 120 nymphs of D. citri per day (T. Kondo, personal observation).

An unidentified species of Hyperaspidini or Hyperaspis has been reported as one of the many control agents of the citrus orthezia, Praelongorthezia praelonga (Douglas, 1891) ( Hemiptera : Ortheziidae ) in Villavicencio, department of Meta, Colombia (Kondo et al. 2013; León & Kondo 2017). An exceptional example of fortuitous classical biological control of the polyphagous pest, the Colombian fluted scale, Crypticerya multicicatrices Kondo & Unruh ( Hemiptera : Monophlebidae ) by Novius punicus (Gordon 1972) on the island of San Andrés, Colombia, can be highlighted ( Kondo et al. 2014). Other coccinellids that prey on C. multicicatrices include Delphastus quinculus Gordon, 1994 , Diomus seminulus ( Mulsant, 1850) , and Novius cardinalis ( Mulsant, 1850) ( Kondo et al. 2016) .

Moreover, Delphastus catalinae ( Horn, 1895) is used in Colombia to control whiteflies in greenhouses ( Kondo et al. 2018). This species can perceive the density of the prey on a plant, modulating the area searched within the canopy, in such a way that the more prey there is on a plant, the greater the number of leaflets that are visited by the coccinellid ( Rincón et al. 2018). The use of coccinellids in the biological control of arthropod pests is a promising strategy as has been evidenced by the successful case of the fortuitous classical biological control of C. multicicatrices with Novius punicus . However, the application of the principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has made it exceedingly difficult or impossible to collect, export and import natural enemies essential for biological control programs ( Kondo et al. 2020).