Mapping the potential of parasitoid species for biological control of Spodoptera frugiperda in Bali, Indonesia

Parasitoidsare natural enemies that can play a role in controlling the Spodoptera frugiperda(J. E Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuideae) pest population. This research aims to determine the morphological and molecular characteristics of these pests as well as distribution patterns in the field. Samples of S. frugiperdaeggs and larvae were taken from corn (Zea maysL.) plants from several locations in Bali, Indonesiausing the purposive sampling method. Identification of the S. frugiperdaparasitoid was carried out using morphological and molecular methods. Based on the morphological and molecular characteristics, thetypes of S. frugiperdaparasitoids in Bali are Telenomus remusas an egg parasitoid and Microplitis prodeniaeas a larval parasitoid. The results of molecular analysis of the two types of parasitoids show that T. remusBali has the same genetic sequence as T. remusfrom China and the larval parasitoid M. prodeniaeBali has the closest genetic sequence to M. prodeniae China, Hong Kong and India. According to the results of haplotype analysis, it is known that the T. remusparasitoid has one haplotype group with the Chinese T. remussequence, while M. prodeniaehas its own haplotype group when compared with sequences from the same species from several countries. Every sampling location in the Bali cornfield had the distribution of T. remu. Based on the percent parasitism value at each location point, T. remusis a very promising and effective parasitoid as a field mortality factor for S. frugiperdaeggs.