Psylloidea or jumping plant-lice are generally highly host specific plant sap sucking hemipterans. Hosts are mostly dicotyledonous plants on which the five larval instars complete their development (Burckhardt, 2008). Psyllidae is the largest family, with more than 1300 species with a cosmopolitan distribution and a wide range of host families (Burckhardt, 2008; Ouvrard, 2021). In the New World, several species of psyllids are serious agricultural and forestry pests, such as species belonging to Cacopsylla pests of pear, and Russelliana solanicola Tuthill pest of potato (Percy 2014; Serbina & Burckhardt, 2017). Moreover, some psyllids transmit plant pathogens as Diaphorina citri Kuwayama vector for Candidatus Liberibacter in citrus (Halbert & Manjunath, 2004; Halbert & Núñez, 2004).

The Cohort Parasitengona comprises terrestrial and aquatic mites, whose main characteristic is the complex life-cycle (Proctor, 1998). Larvae of terrestrial Parasitengona mites are parasites of insects and arachnids or, exceptionally, free living, while adults and deutonymphs are predators of small arthropods (Salmane & Mąkol, 2018). Some parasitengone families (between them Erythraeidae) parasitize hemipterans of the Auchenorrhyncha, Heteroptera and Sternorrhyncha suborders (Stroiński et al., 2013). The genus Erythraeus Latreille comprises about 124 known species, with two Subgenera: Erythraeus Latreille and Zaracarus Southcott, mostly distributed in the old world, and in a few regions of the American continent (Peru, USA and Galapagos) (Mąkol & Wohltmann, 2012; Xu et al., 2019). Larvae of Erythraeus (Erythraeus) species were found associated with at least 29 hemipteran species belonging to nine families (Haitinger & Mehrnejad, 2017). The family Psyllidae is a rarely host for Parasitengona cohort mites, and only few species are known parasitizing them: Charletonia postojnensis Haitlinger on Psylla sp. in Slovenia, C. rocciai Treat & Flechtmann on Auchmerina limbatipennis Enderlein in Brazil, and Leptus (Leptus) elderi Southcott attacking Heteropsylla cubana Crawford in Australia (Costa et al., 2019; Haitlinger & Mehrnejad, 2017; Ouvrard, 2021).

The aim of this work is to report for the first time the association between the mite Erythraeus sp (Acari: Prostigmata: Parasitengona) with the psyllid Russelliana adunca Burckhardt (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) in Argentina.

During a sampling on Larrea divaricata Cav. (Zygophyllaceae) in Añelo, Neuquén province, Argentina (38°19´18´´S 68°44´45´´W, 396 m.a.s.l.), one reddish mite firmly attached by their chelicerae to the abdomen of a psyllid (Fig. 1) was collected. The samples were collected within the framework of the Baseline Study of Biodiversity in Areas of the Neuquén Basin, developed by Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales S.A. (YPF S.A.) in October 5, 2019; a 3 m2 plastic blanket was placed on the ground around the entire plant and the foliage was tapped with a stick. Then the material was collected from the blanket and stored in 70% ethanol. The mite was removed with a fine forceps and stored in ethanol 70%, then it was cleared in lactophenol for identification and mounted on a semi-permanent slide in Hoyer’s (Walter & Krantz, 2009). The terminology and abbreviations are adapted from Haitlinger and Saboori (1996). All measurements were taken from a slide-mounted specimen and are given in micrometers (μm); either as length or length: width. Abbreviations used in the text are: AL: length of anterolateral scutala, PL: length of posterolateral scutala, ASE: length of anterior sensillary seta of dorsal scutum and PSE: length of posterior sensillary seta of dorsal scutum.

The psyllid was preserved in ethanol 70% and one of its forewings was mounted in Canada balsam for the identification using a stereomicroscope Leica S8APO and a microscope Trinocular Biotraza XSZ146AT. The studied material was deposited in the collection of the División Entomología of the Museo de La Plata (MLP), Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The psyllid was identified as Russelliana adunca following the keys of Burckhardt (2008) and Serbina & Burckhardt, (2017).

Currently, the genus Russelliana includes 43 species restricted to the Neotropics, and they are associated with a surprisingly wide range of hosts from several plant families (Serbina & Burckhardt, 2017). Russelliana adunca is distributed in Bolivia, Chile and in Argentina it is known from Chubut province (Baliotte et al., 2021; Burckhardt et al., 2012; Serbina & Burckhardt, 2017). Here, the genus Russelliana and the species R. adunca are recorded for the first time from Neuquén province. In addition, the record in Larrea divaricata must be considered casual, because the adult was not found feeding and no other developmental stage of the species was found (Burckhardt et al, 2014; Ouvrard, 2021). It is important to continue with the sampling to obtain a more accurate association with the plant and to have more representatives of the psyllid, given that there are no females or nymphal stages.

The mite was identified as larva belonging of the genus Erythraeus and it was not fit with larval species of the genus worldwide key (Xu et al., 2019). No information about this genus in Argentina is available, nonetheless we mention some features that will help in future identifications: Body 352:175; two pairs of eyes on each side, dorsal scutum rounded and finely dotted (125:126), bearing AL (54), ASE (32). PL (32) and PSE (60) (Fig. 2), palp femur and palp genu with one barbed seta each; two pairs of sternalae setae, one of them between coxae I, and the other pair between coxae III (no setae between coxae II), between coxae II and III one pair of setae. Each coxa I–III with one seta (coxalae); all opisthosomatic setae are similar in shape and size (28; with barbs), but ventral are more slender than dorsal (38); all setae on the legs similar in shape, with barbs and pointed apex, legs seven-segmented: leg I 713: CxI 52, TrI 42, FeI 185 (basifemur with three normal setae), GeI 142, TiI 195, TaI 97; leg II 724: CxII 62, TrII 42, FeII 190 (basifemur with three normal setae),Ge II 115,TiII 198, TaII 117; leg III 801: CxIII 65,TrIII 42, FeIII 180 (basifemur with three normal setae), GeIII 122, TiIII 262, TaIII 130; fD 36, NDV 50. With Xu et al. (2019) key, it was not possible to advance in the determination of the species. However, we consider that the association between the mite Erythraeus sp and Russelliana adunca (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) constitutes a valuable record for Argentina and especially for Neuquén, Patagonia.

The association reported herein widens the host list known for this parasite and represents the first record of the same in Argentina. It may promote further efforts regarding jumping plant lice-mite association studies.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was supported by the Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la provincia de Buenos Aires (CIC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), by the FCNyM, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Argentina and by Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA).

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Notas de autor

cbaliotte@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar