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16 May 2019 Effect of Arsenophonus Endosymbiont Elimination on Fitness of the Date Palm Hopper, Ommatissus lybicus (Hemiptera: Tropiduchidae)
Sarah Karimi, Majeed Askari Seyahooei, Hamzeh Izadi, Abdoolnabi Bagheri, Pejman Khodaygan
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Abstract

The date palm hopper, Ommatissus lybicus de Bergevin, is one of the most important pests of the date palm in the Middle East and North Africa.This insect uses its needle-like sucking mouthparts to feed on phloem, which is devoid of most essential amino acids and many vitamins. The absence of essential nutrient in its diet is suggested to be ameliorated by endosymbionts in O. lybicus. Arsenophonus is one of the main bacterial endosymbionts widely prevalent in O. lybicus. In this study, we used antibiotics to eliminate Arsenophonus from O. lybicus originating from three populations (Fin, Qale’e Qazi, and Roodan) and studied the effects on the fitness of the pest. Our results revealed that the removal of Arsenophonus increased the developmental time of the immature stages and reduced the values of different life-history parameters including nymphal survival rate and adult longevity in the host. Furthermore, elimination of Arsenophonus completely obliterated offspring production in all O. lybicus populations investigated. These results confirm the dependency of O. lybicus on Arsenophonus for fitness and give a new insight regarding the possibility of symbiotic control of O. lybicus.

© Crown copyright 2019.
Sarah Karimi, Majeed Askari Seyahooei, Hamzeh Izadi, Abdoolnabi Bagheri, and Pejman Khodaygan "Effect of Arsenophonus Endosymbiont Elimination on Fitness of the Date Palm Hopper, Ommatissus lybicus (Hemiptera: Tropiduchidae)," Environmental Entomology 48(3), 614-622, (16 May 2019). https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvz047
Received: 2 November 2018; Accepted: 15 April 2019; Published: 16 May 2019
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KEYWORDS
Arsenophonus
elimination
endosymbiont
Ommatissus lybicus
tetracycline
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