Diversity and functional guild composition of rice leaffolder [cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenee), lepidoptera: Pyralidae] natural enemies in irrigated super hybrid rice and non-rice habitats in China

• Main Authors: Barrion, Alberto T., Zhu, Pingyang, Zheng, Xusong, Chen, Guihua, Mei, Zhijian, Lu, Zhongxian
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2016
• Subjects: Cnaphalocrocis medinalis > China; Predation (Biology); Spiders; Biology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/1835
• Institution: De La Salle University

The rice leaffolder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenee) is a key insect pest of irrigated super hybrid rice in China. Its pool of natural enemies revealed 24 species of parasitic Hymenoptera belonging to 17 genera under 7 families in Wuyishan City, Fujian Province, East China. Four species of Trichogramma were the most dominant parasitoids attacking the eggs. Two braconids, Cotesia cypris (Nixon) and Cardiochiles philippinensis Ashmead were the most common larval parasitoids while the ichneumonids occur in low numbers. On the other hand, 119 species of predators - spiders, odonatans, dipterans, ants and mirid bug complimented the parasitic Hymenoptera. Of all the natural enemies, the predatory spiders (Araneae) present in both the super hybrid rice and non-rice habitats totalled 2,787 individuals and only 60 predatory insects were found. The spiders were 50.4x and 41.6x more preponderant than the predatory insects in both habitats, respectively. The super hybrid rice had 1,664 spider individuals belonging to 38 species under 11 families while the non-rice habitats recorded 1,123 individuals representing 84 species under 16 families. These findings served as the first documentation of all parasitoids and predatory natural enemies of rice leaf folder in China based on collections from the irrigated super hybrid rice and surrounding non-rice habitats in Wuyishan City, East China. ©Rushing Water Publishers Ltd. 2016.