Cryptic genetic diversity and associated ecological differences of Anastatus orientalis, an egg parasitoid of the spotted lanternfly

Yunke Wu; Hannah J Broadley; Kendra A Vieira; John J McCormack; Corrine A Losch; Hyeban Namgung; Yeongmo Kim; Hyojoong Kim; Alana R McGraw; Marjorie Z Palmeri; Seunghwan Lee; Liangming Cao; Xiaoyi Wang; Juli R Gould

doi:10.3389/finsc.2023.1154651

Cryptic genetic diversity and associated ecological differences of Anastatus orientalis, an egg parasitoid of the spotted lanternfly

Front Insect Sci. 2023 Jun 2:3:1154651. doi: 10.3389/finsc.2023.1154651. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yunke Wu^{1

2}, Hannah J Broadley¹, Kendra A Vieira¹, John J McCormack^{1

3}, Corrine A Losch^{1

3}, Hyeban Namgung⁴, Yeongmo Kim⁴, Hyojoong Kim⁴, Alana R McGraw^{1

5}, Marjorie Z Palmeri^{1

3}, Seunghwan Lee^{6

7}, Liangming Cao⁸, Xiaoyi Wang⁸, Juli R Gould¹

Affiliations

¹ Forest Pest Methods Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine, Science and Technology, Buzzards Bay, MA, United States.
² Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.
³ Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, United States.
⁴ Department of Biological Science, Kunsan National University, Gunsan, Jeonbuk, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Department of Entomology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, United States.
⁶ Insect Biosystematics Laboratory, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁷ Research Institute for Agricultural and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁸ Key Laboratory of Forest Protection of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Ecology and Nature Conservation Institute, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Anastatus orientalis, native to northern China, is an egg parasitoid wasp of the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) and is being tested as a potential biological control agent for invasive L. delicatula in the United States. As a component of these evaluations, live A. orientalis collected from Beijing and Yantai in China were reared in containment in the U.S. These specimens showed different responses in diapause behaviors to rearing conditions used previously by other researchers. To understand the primary mechanism potentially driving discrepancies in important life history traits, we used molecular tools to examine the genetic composition of A. orientalis from China and from South Korea, where the parasitoid has been introduced to aid in the population management of invasive L. delicatula. Molecular analysis of mitochondrial DNA recovered six haplotype groups, which exhibit biased frequency of abundance between collection sites. Some haplotypes are widespread, and others only occur in certain locations. No apparent pattern is observed between wasps collected from different years or emergence seasons. Uncorrected genetic distances between haplotype groups range from 0.44% to 1.44% after controlling for within-group variation. Genetic variance of A. orientalis is characterized by high levels of local diversity that contrasts with a lack of a broad-scale population structure. The introduced Korean population exhibits lower genetic diversity compared to native populations. Additionally, we created iso-female lines for major haplotype groups through laboratory rearing. Differences in diapause behavior were correlated with mitochondrial haplotype. Our results indicate that the observed life history traits in A. orientalis have a genetic base.

Keywords: Eupelmidae; biological control; genetic diversity; iso-female lines; life history; spotted lanternfly.

Grants and funding

This work was made possible, in part, by funding from USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Plant Protection Act Section 7721 Funding.