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. 2019 Oct 26;10(11):374.
doi: 10.3390/insects10110374.

Unraveling the Genetic Structure of the Coconut Scale Insect Pest (Aspidiotus rigidus Reyne) Outbreak Populations in the Philippines

Joeselle M Serrana  1   2 , Naoto Ishitani  1   2 , Thaddeus M Carvajal  1   2 , Billy Joel M Almarinez  2   3 , Alberto T Barrion  2   3 , Divina M Amalin  2   3 , Kozo Watanabe  1   2
Affiliations

Unraveling the Genetic Structure of the Coconut Scale Insect Pest (Aspidiotus rigidus Reyne) Outbreak Populations in the Philippines

Joeselle M Serrana et al. Insects. .

Abstract

Despite the fact that massive outbreaks of the coconut scale insect pest, Aspidiotus rigidus Reyne (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) are inflicting significant economic losses to the Philippines' coconut industry, little is known about the population and dispersal history of this invasive pest in the country. Here, we examined the genetic diversity, structure and demographic history of A. rigidus sampled from localities with reported outbreaks from 2014 to 2017. We analyzed the genetic structure of the outbreak populations using mitochondrial COI and nuclear EF-1α markers. Both markers and all methods of population genetic structure analyses indicate clear differentiation among the A. rigidus populations separating the north from the southern regions of the Philippines. Very low or no genetic differentiation was observed within and amongst the populations per geographic region indicating two unrelated outbreak events of the pest originating from two genetically uniform populations isolated in each respective region. Historical data supports the resurgence of an established A. rigidus population in the south which could have been driven by sudden climatic changes or human-induced habitat imbalance. Our study provides valuable information on the genetic differentiation of the two A. rigidus groups that would be useful for developing and implementing biological control strategies against this pest in the Philippines.

Keywords: Aspidiotus rigidus Reyne; coconut scale insect; genetic structure; insect outbreak; mitochondrial and nuclear markers.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of the seven localities with reported A. rigidus outbreaks in the Philippines from 2014 to 2017. The insect rearing facility of the Biological Control Research Unit of De La Salle University labeled “AR”. Dots indicate sampling locations. Northern localities: Orani, Bataan (BT), Nagcarlan (NG) and San Pablo (SP), Laguna, Tanauan (TN) and Talisay (TL), Batangas; Southern localities: Basilan (BS) and Zamboanga (ZB). See Table 1 for the more detailed information regarding location and sample collection information.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Representative adult female A. rigidus from different outbreak areas: (A) Southern Tagalog Region (Laguna, Cavite, and Batangas); (B) Orani, Bataan; (C) Basilan; and (D) Zamboanga City. The arrows point to the egg skins, which for this species is characteristically distributed along the posterior or pygidial half of the insect body.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Median-joining network of the A. rigidus populations from 305 individuals for the mtCOI gene (A), and 75 individuals for the protein-coding EF-1α gene (B), showing location and frequency of haplotypes. Each circle represents an observed haplotype; circle size indicates the number of individuals observed; the colors correspond to sampling localities. The total number of mutations, Eta presented as hatch marks.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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