<Emphasis Type="Italic">Dittrichia viscosa</Emphasis> and<Emphasis Type="Italic">Rubus ulmifolius</Emphasis> as reservoirs of aphid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) and the role of certain Coccinellid species

The role of the self-sown shrubsDittrichia viscosa (L.) W. Greuter andRubus ulmifolius Schott as reservoirs of aphid parasitoids was investigated. In the field studies conducted,D. viscosa grew adjacent to crops of durum wheat and barley andR. ulmifolius grew adjacent to cotton. The relative abundance of the parasitoids of(a) Capitophorus inulae (Passerini) onD. viscosa, (b) Rhopalosiphum padi (Linnaeus) on durum wheat and barley,(c) Aphis ruborum (Börner) onR. ulmifolius, and(d) Aphis gossypii Glover on cotton in various parts of Greece, was assessed during the years 1996–2000. In 2000, the fluctuation of parasitization of the above four aphid species was recorded and the action of the aphidophagous predators of the family Coccinellidae was studied. It was observed thatAphidius matricariae Haliday predominated onC. inulae andR. padi in all sampling cases. In contrast,Lysiphlebus fabarum (Marshall) was the dominant species parasitizingA. ruborum onR. ulmifolius andA. gossypii on cotton in Thessaly (central Greece) and Macedonia (northern Greece), whereasLysiphlebus confusus Tremblay et Eady andBinodoxys acalephae (Marshall) were the dominant parasitoid species in Thrace (northern Greece).Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus was the most abundant coccinellid species on durum wheat, whereasAdonia variegata (Goeze) predominated on cotton. However, coccinellid individuals were scarce on bothD. viscosa andR. ulmifolius. The present study indicated that these two shrubs can be regarded as useful reservoirs of aphid parasitoids.