The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, a moth originating from tropical and subtropical America, has recently become a serious pest of cereals in sub-Saharan Africa. Biological control offers an economically and environmentally safer alternative to synthetic insecticides that are being used for the management of this pest. Consequently, various biological control options are being considered, including the introduction of Telenomus remus, the main egg parasitoid of S. frugiperda in the Americas, where it is already used in augmentative biological control programmes. During surveys in South, West, and East Africa, parasitized egg masses of S. frugiperda were collected, and the emerged parasitoids were identified through morphological observations and molecular analyses as T. remus. The presence of T. remus in Africa in at least five countries provides a great opportunity to develop augmentative biological control methods and register the parasitoid against S. frugiperda. Surveys should be carried out throughout Africa to assess the present distribution of T. remus on the continent, and the parasitoid could be re-distributed in the regions where it is absent, following national and international regulations. Classical biological control should focus on the importation of larval parasitoids from the Americas.

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Over 360 Hemiptera specimens were collected using sweep nets and hand-made aspirators from coconut palm fronds in six villages of Grand-Lahou. Eight families were identified including Aphrophoridae, Achilidae, Derbidae, Flatidae, Membracidae, Pentatomidae, Tropiduchidae, and Cicadellidae, the latter being the most abundant throughout the surveyed villages. PCR assays with primers targeting the 16S rRNA and the secA translocation protein genes yielded PCR amplicons from 216 out of 296 (73%) of the tested specimens of a newly identified cicadellid leafhopper, Nedotepa curta Dmitriev. PCR amplicons were purified, cloned and sequenced. The 16S rDNA and secA sequences from N. curta showed a 99% of sequence identity with those of the Côte d'Ivoire lethal yellowing (CILY) phytoplasma, member of subgroup 16SrXXII-B 'Candidatus Phytoplasma palmicola'-related strain, previously identified in coconut-growing villages of Grand-Lahou. This suggested N. curta as a potential vector for the CILY phytoplasma. Four symptomatic coconut palms (7.4%) were found infected by a phytoplasma of group 16SrI, in mixed infection with the CILY phytoplasma (16SrXXII-B) in two palms, and alone in the other two palms, where the CILY phytoplasma was not detected. The 16SrI phytoplasma was also found in two N. curta specimens, and in the weeds Dalbergia saxatilis and Baphia nitida. Results indicating that mixed infection of both 16SrXXII-B and 16SrI phytoplasmas occurs in coconut palms affected by CILY in Grand-Lahou, and may impact disease management and control.

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