Non-crop plants used as hosts by Drosophila suzukii in Europe

Abstract

The invasive spotted wing drosophila Drosophila suzukii, a fruit fly of Asian origin, is a major pest of a wide variety of berry and stone fruits in Europe. One of the characteristics of this fly is its wide host range. A better knowledge of its host range outside cultivated areas is essential to develop sustainable integrated pest management strategies. Field surveys were carried out during two years in Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Fruits of 165 potential host plant species were collected, including mostly wild and ornamental plants. Over 24,000 D. suzukii adults emerged from 84 plant species belonging to 19 families, 38 of which being non-native. Forty-two plants were reported for the first time as hosts of D. suzukii. The highest infestations were found in fruits of the genera Cornus, Prunus, Rubus, Sambucus and Vaccinium as well as in Ficus carica, Frangula alnus, Phytolacca americana and Taxus baccata. Based on these data, management methods are suggested. Ornamental and hedge plants in the vicinity of fruit crops and orchards can be selected according to their susceptibility to D. suzukii. However, the widespread availability and abundance of non-crop hosts and the lack of efficient native parasitoids suggest the need for an area-wide control approach.

Baseline susceptibility of spotted wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) to four key insecticide classes

“…28,33,[35][36][37] However, these non-crop host areas may also serve as vital refuges for susceptible flies in the population. Such refuges have been successfully used for resistance management of other insect pests, 38,39 and may prove important for D. suzukii. Although promoting early season fruiting non-crop hosts such as Lonicera and Rubus species would be inadvisable as they could increase D. suzukii populations during harvest, 28 encouraging later-season non-crop hosts such as Phytolacca americana may not pose as great of a risk to the commercial crop.…”

Metagenomic analysis reveals changes of the Drosophila suzukii microbiota in the newly colonized regions

“…The spotted wing drosophila, D. suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae), which is well known as an endemic and highly polyphagous pest throughout Southeast Asia, has recently invaded Europe and North America (Cini et al ., ; Deprà et al ., ; Asplen et al ., ). Since its first occurrence in Europe in 2008, it has rapidly spread to most European countries (Calabria et al ., ; Cini et al ., ), becoming a major pest of a wide variety of wild or cultivated berries and stone fruit (Asplen et al ., ; Kenis et al ., ). For these reasons, several lines of research have dealt with the pursuit of effective chemical and biological management techniques (i.e., Haye et al ., ).…”

Host specificity of Asian parasitoids for potential classical biological control of Drosophila suzukii

“…Among these, Drosophila suzukii Matsumura (Diptera, Drosophilidae), or spotted wing drosophila. This fly of East Asian origin was first found in 2008 in Europe and North America and, in just a few years, it invaded several continents (Asplen et al 2015; Fraimout et al 2017) and became a very serious pest of many fruit crops worldwide as non-crop or ornamental fruits (Walsh et al 2011; Lee et al 2015; Kenis et al 2016). …”