Željko Tomanović

University of Belgrade · Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Entomology

Charipinae material collected from different countries within Balkan peninsula (Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia) have been studied. Material was collected as a part of ecological studies related with aphid biological control programmes. In total 960 specimens have been identified, grouped in 19 species: 15 belong to Alloxysta (Förster, 1869) and fo...

With only 33 reported species, Norway ranks among the European countries with the lowest documented diversity of parasitoids from the subfamily Aphidiinae. The “MUST Malaise” project, carried out by Museum Stavanger in Norway, aimed to assess insect abundance and biodiversity and create a reference base for future studies. The preliminary results o...

Understanding how landscape composition and configuration drive the dynamics of pests and their various natural enemies is crucial to enhance biological control services (biocontrol). Geographic variability in landscape effects prompts questions about whether this is due to genuine differences or methodological differences among studies, given that...

Environmental pressures on species can cascade within food webs and even extend beyond individual ecosystems to interconnected systems at large spatial scales. To facilitate the exploration of these dynamics, we construct a data-based national trophic meta-food web (henceforth metaweb), that includes well-documented vertebrates, invertebrates, and...

Aphidius colemani is an important biological control agent, used in greenhouses and open fields against aphid pests. Despite this economical importance, A. colemani, along with A. transcaspicus and A. platensis, has gone through a complex taxonomical history. The three species have only recently gained status as separate species again, comprising t...

Background The genus Monoctonus Haliday, 1833 is a small group which consists of 24 species worldwide. In South Korea, Chang and Youn (1983) recorded one species, M. similis Starý & Schlinger, 1967, but the evidence for identification of this species is doubtful and further confirmation is required (personal communication with Prof. Jong-Cheol Paik...

The genus Binodoxys includes only nine species found in Europe, yet despite its frequent occurrence, it remains insufficiently studied. This study addresses this knowledge gap through an exhaustive literature review and material collection, and a compilation of a comprehensive list detailing tritrophic associations. Based on the available molecular...

Despite the ecological importance of parasitoid wasps for the stability of Alps ecosystems, the available knowledge about braconid wasps for these environments is still very limited. Here, we explored the diversity of Alpine braconid parasitoids in the Southern Central Alps. We recorded 18 species of braconids, 12 of which are from the subfamily Ap...

The rise and fall of the Roman Empire was a socio-political process with enormous ramifications for human history. The Middle Danube was a crucial frontier and a crossroads for population and cultural movement. Here we present genome-wide data from 136 Balkan individuals dated to the 1st millennium CE. Despite extensive militarization and cultural...

The following work consists of the description of four new species of the genus Pseudephedrus Starý (Aphidiinae), endemic to South America, associated with endemic callaphidid aphid hosts. The descriptions of the new species are based on new samples from Chile and Argentina. The new species described here are as follows: Pseudephedrus staryi sp.n.,...

The braconid genus Dyscritulus Hincks is a small member of the subfamily Aphidiinae, distributed in Europe and Central Asia. All its species are highly specialized parasitoids of aphids of the genera Drepanosiphum Koch and, probably, Periphyllus van der Hoeven which are mostly associated with maple and sycamore trees (genus Acer ). Upon examination...

Falciconus hispanicus sp. n. and Monoctonus montenegrinus sp. n. are described as new members of the subtribe Monoctonina from Spain and from high mountain habitats of Montenegro, respectively. The main diagnostic characters of the newly described species and their host plant-host aphid associations are discussed.

The aim of this study was to investigate how the primary (PHP) and secondary host plants (SHP) in the fruit orchards affect the interactions of aphids and their parasitoids in northwest Turkey during spring and summer 2020 and 2021. In total, 67 tritrophic aphid–parasitoid host plant interactions, including new association records for Europe and Tu...

Here, we review the current knowledge on the taxonomy, biodiversity, and ecology of cereal aphid parasitoids in Europe, which include 26 cereal aphid primary parasitoids and 28 hyperparasitoids. We present approaches to studying aphid–parasitoid–hyperparasitoid food webs, as well as the secondary endosymbionts in cereal aphids that may influence pa...

The genus Toxares Haliday, 1840 is a small taxon of Aphidiinae, consisting four valid species in the world. One Toxares species is recorded as new to science from South Korea, in this study. Descriptions and illustrations of the new species, T. koreanus sp. nov. , are provided, together with their mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI)...

The aim of this study was to reveal the diversity of parasitoids and ascertain tritrophic parasitoid-host aphid-host plant interactions in a lagoon habitat very close to orchards, vegetable gardens, and cereal fields in the Çanakkale Province of northwest Turkey between April and September from 2020 to 2021. In total, 23 tritrophic parasitoid host...

Aphids and ants are relatively well faunistically studied in Serbia. However, there is a need to present the mutualistic associations between these two groups of insects, since there is not sufficient information on this topic for the territory under investigation. In total, 220 samples of plant-aphid-ant associations were included in this study. I...

The genus Diaeretellus is a small group of Aphidiinae wasps, comprising five species from the Palaearctic so far. All members of the genus are highly specialised to semi-aquatic habitats and aphid hosts and plants that occupy them. Because they have practically no economic importance as biocontrol agents, the biology of Diaeretellus species is stil...

Several species of the genus Aphidius are well known as commercial biocontrol agents of pest aphids, and more than 130 species of the genus have been recorded worldwide. To date, only 15 Aphidius species have been recorded in South Korea. Using the DNA barcode region (ca. 658 bp) of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), we amplified s...

The Roman Empire expanded through the Mediterranean shores and brought human mobility and cosmopolitanism across this inland sea to an unprecedented scale. However, if this was also common at the Empire frontiers remains undetermined. The Balkans and Danube River were of strategic importance for the Romans acting as an East-West connection and as a...

Here we present additional data on the Aphidiinae fauna of Kyrgyzstan. We identified 18 Aphidiinae species. One species new to science ( Trioxys depressus sp. nov. ) is described, while 11 species are reported for the first time: Aphidius avenae Haliday, A. ervi Haliday, A. matricariae Haliday, A. salicis Haliday, A. urticae Haliday, Ephedrus ceras...

The main objective of the present paper was to analyse and compare the patterns of molecular and morphological divergence of European parasitoid wasps belonging to the diverse genus Aphidius Nees, 1818. The maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony trees constructed by including 64 different haplotypes of the barcoding region of mitochondrial cytoch...

Despite extensive research on the taxonomy and phylogeny of the subfamily Aphidiinae Haliday, 1833, certain questions about the relationships between genera remain unresolved. Genera Trioxys Haliday, 1833 and Binodoxys Mackauer, 1960 are considered closely related, based on morphological and molecular analyses. However, recent studies suggest there...

Here we describe Aphidius erodii sp. n. associated with Acyrthosiphon malvae (Mosley, 1841), which is a pest on herbaceous ornamental Geranium and Pelargonium plants, but also an increasingly serious pest of strawberry in Northern and Western Europe. Aphidius erodii sp. n. is diagnosed on the basis of the COI barcode gene and morphological traits,...

Lipolexis is a small genus in the subfamily Aphidiinae represented by one species in Europe (Lipolexis gracilis Förster) and by four in Asia (Lipolexis wuyiensis Chen, L. oregmae Gahan, L. myzakkaiae Pramanik and Raychaudhuri and L. pseudoscutellaris Pramanik and Raychaudhuri). Although L. oregmae is employed in biological control programs against...

Here we describe two new Ephedrus species from the Biologiezentrum Linz´s collection: Ephedrus antennalissp. nov. , which possesses 12-segmented antennae, a unique character within the genus Ephedrus ; and E. carinatussp. nov. , which represents an additional member of the root aphid parasitoid group within the genus Ephedrus .

Members of the Monoctonina subtribe have long been neglected in applied studies of the subfamily Aphidiinae, due to their low economic importance, as they do not parasitize pests of cultivated plants. Consequently, data about this group are scarce, including its taxonomy and phylogeny. In the present study, we explore inter-and intraspecific geneti...

In the present study, the natural enemies of aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and their host plants including herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees were analysed to reveal their biodiversity and disclose tritrophic associations in different habitats of the South Marmara region of northwest Turkey. As a result of field surveys, 58 natural enemy species a...

The European fauna of Aphidiinae comprises eight species of the genus Binodoxys Mackauer, which are traditionally assigned into two morphologically distinguished groups: “acalephae” and “angelicae” morpho-groups. Here, we explored the genetic variation (based on the phylogenetic reconstruction using the barcoding COI region) and tested whether the...

The subtribe Monoctonina has long been overlooked when it comes to morphological studies, probably due to the low economic importance of its members. Mainly distributed in high montane areas and forest ecosystems, species of Monoctonina are not often found in large populations and do not parasitize pests of cultivated plants. Our research uncovered...

In this study two molecular markers were used to establish taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships of Ephedrus subgenera and species distributed in Europe. Fifteen of the nineteen currently known species have been analysed, representing three subgenera: Breviephedrus Gärdenfors, 1986, Lysephedrus Starý, 1958 and Ephedrus Haliday, 1833. The...

In this study, a total of 108 Aphidiinae species, belonging to 18 genera, associated with 240 aphid species in 16 countries of the Middle East and North Africa are reviewed. 743 host aphid-parasitoid associations are listed. New material was collected from various regions of Saudi Arabia during 2011–2013. Three species including Aphidius avenae Hal...

Aphids are a serious pest for peach crops. They have traditionally been managed with insecticides, but there is increasing concern about the risk that insecticides pose to both humans and the environment. As a first step to use biological control in aphid management, we conducted a 3-year field survey in northeastern Spain to determine which parasi...

Species from the genus Paralipsis are obligatory endoparasitoids of root aphids in the Palaearctic. It is known that these species are broadly distributed, parasitizing various aphid hosts and showing great biological and ecological diversity. On the other hand, this group of endoparasitoids is understudied and was thought to be represented by a si...

• The bird cherry‐oat aphid Rhopalosiphum padi is a major cereal pest with an almost cosmopolitan distribution. As one of the main groups of biocontrol agents for aphids, numerous Aphidiinae are associated with R. padi, including the genera Binodoxys and Trioxys. • As a recently described species parasitizing R. padi, Trioxys sunnysidensis is recor...

The parasitoid species Ephedrus plagiator (Nees, 1811) (Hymenoptera: Aphidiinae) is one of the most important biological agents against pest aphids. We investigated whether this species was in competition with some other aphidiine species for the same hosts. We thus examined its potential in biological programs to control aphids. We applied an unsu...

New alien species of aphids (Illinoia liriodendri (Monell), Wahlgreniella nervata (Gillete), Takecallis arundicolens (Clarke) and Tinocallis takachihoensis Higuchi) have been found for the first time in Serbia. These records are new for the Balkan Peninsula. Data of Ericaphis scammelli (Mason), species recently mentioned in Serbia, are also present...

Као део трофичког ланца у којем учествују биљке, хербиворни домаћини и паразитоиди, Braconidae су врло значајни инсекти који успешно контролишу њихову бројност. Њихов велики потенцијал као биолошких агенаса се у блиској будућности може боље искористи, чиме би се смањила или чак заменила употреба класичних пестицида. Многе врсте браконида су већ тес...

Archival specimens are a great resource for molecular research in population biology, taxonomy and conservation. A primary goal for researchers is to preserve specimens from collections by improving noninvasive methods for DNA extraction and to achieve successful amplification of the short fragments of a target gene in the event of DNA fragmentatio...

Community structures of aphids and their parasitoids were studied in fruit crop habitats of eastern Belgium in 2014 and 2015. Quantitative food webs of these insects were constructed separately for each year, and divided into subwebs on three host‐plant categories, fruit crop plants, non‐crop woody and shrub plants and non‐crop herbaceous plants. T...

Although Aphidiinae parasitoids have been used as agents for biocontrol of alfalfa aphids for more than half a century and have been the subject of numerous ecological investigations, there is an evident lack of systematic studies on the parasitoids of aphids infesting alfalfa in Europe. Here we present an original and up-dated key for identificati...

This study carried out in wheat growing areas and natural areas that nearby of wheat fields of Diyarbakır (Yenişehir, Central villages, Plant Protection Research Institute experimental area) and Şanlıurfa (Akçakale, Siverek) provinces in 2014-2015. Studies were conducted during April, May and June by sampling once a week, while in November and Febr...

This study was conducted between 2013 - 2015 to determine aphidophagous coccinellid and parasitoid species of aphids, their diversity and tritrophic associations (parasitoid/predator-host aphid-host plant) in the Çanakkale Province. In the course of the investigations, 10 species belonging to six genera of the subfamily Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera: Bra...

The cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is a serious pest of cotton across the globe, particularly in the cotton agroecosystems of northern China. Parasitic wasps are deemed to be important natural enemies of A. gossypii, but limited information exists about their species composition, richness and seasonal dynamics in northern Chin...

Parasitoids are important natural enemies of aphids in wheat fields of northern China, and interest in them has increased in recent years. However, little is known regarding parasitoids of wheat aphids, which has hindered the study and understanding of aphid-parasitoid interactions. In the present study, three primary parasitoids and 15 hyperparasi...

This study carried out in wheat growing areas and natural areas that nearby of wheat fields of Diyarbakır (Central) and Şanlıurfa (Akçakale, Siverek) provinces in 2014-2015. Studies were conducted during April, May and June by sampling once a week, while in November and February months by sampling once a month, by irregular controlling of 60 differ...

Abstract A. Peñalver-Cruz, S. Ortiz-Martínez, C. Villegas, Ž. Tomanović, F. Zepeda-Paulo, V. Žikić, and B. Lavandero. 2017. Abundance and prevalence of Aphidius avenae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) in Chile. Cien. Inv. Agr. 44(2): 207-214. During the samplings described here, Aphidius avenae (=picipes) (Haliday, 1834) was collected. This sp...

We explored evolutionary changes in wing venation and wing size and shape in Aphidiinae, one of the well-known groups of parasitic wasps from the family Braconidae. Forewings of 53 species from 12 genera were examined, for which a molecular phylogeny was constructed on the basis of the mitochondrial barcoding gene COI. By covering all types of wing...

Aphidius ericaphidis, an aphid parasitoid originally described from North America, is recorded in Europe for the first time, based on morphological and molecular analyses. The species is recorded in Serbia, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It was formerly recorded as Aphidius sp./Ericaphis latifrons/Vaccinium uliginosum from the Alps...

Molecular approaches are increasingly being used to analyse host-parasitoid food webs as they overcome several hurdles inherent to conventional approaches. However, such studies have focused primarily on the detection and identification of aphids and their aphidiid primary parasitoids, largely ignoring primary parasitoid-hyperparasitoid interaction...

A long-term survey of tritrophic (plant–aphid–parasitoid) associations in the urban ecosystems of Lleida (Catalonia) and Paris (France) resulted in the detection of associations of two bamboo aphids, Takecallis arundinariae (Essig) and Takecallis taiwanus (Takahashi), respectively, with a new aphid parasitoid species. Trioxys remaudierei Starý & Ra...

Aphids are major pests of cereal crops and a suite of hymenopteran primary parasitoids play an important role in regulating their populations. However, hyperparasitoids may disrupt the biocontrol services provided by primary parasitoids. As such, understanding cereal aphid-primary parasitoid-hyperparasitoid interactions is vital for a reliable para...

Parasitoid DNA sequences retrieved from GenBank for this study. (DOCX)

Taxonomic authorities of the organisms used in this study. (DOCX)

Parasitoid specimens used in this study. (XLSX)

Aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) are important pests feeding on herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees in cultivated and non-cultivated areas throughout the world. Aphids cause direct damage by sucking plant sap and also excrete honeydew on plant leaves. Furthermore, they cause indirect damage by transferring phytopathogenic viruse diseases. Despite usin...

The functional roles of different habitats may depend on the combined effect of local habitat management and the structure and composition of the surrounding landscape. However, this interaction is not well understood due to the common practice of pooling many different habitat types in one simple landscape metric (e.g., percentage crop area). In t...

On western Balkan Peninsula Camponotus lateralis group Emery, 1925 is represented by three species: Camponotus lateralis (Olivier, 1791), C. piceus (Leach, 1825) and C. dalmaticus (Nylander, 1849). Camponotus lateralis group is founded by ecologically subordinated ants that are dominantly adapted to habitats in Mediterranean region. In contrast to...

A well-documented consequence of repeated global ice ages is the negative relationship between latitude and intraspecific genetic diversity. However, little is known about additional effects of such major climatic events on population genetic structure. Here we studied the phylogeographic structure of five lycaenid butterfly species with varied eco...

Here we tested Aphidius urticae s. str. host-associated lineages from Microlophium carnosum (Buckton), Amphorophora rubi (Kaltenbach), Macrosiphum funestum (Macchiati) and Aulacorthum vaccinii Hille Ris Lambers with the barcoding region of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene used to analyse population differences and elucidate phy-l...

PARASITOIDS AND BIOCONTROL: POSTER Lysiphlebus Foerster is a medium-sized genus that includes over 30 endoparasitoid species which parasitize numerous aphid host species of both economic or non-economic importance, prevailingly in the northern hemisphere. On the basis of existing knowledge about Lysiphlebus taxonomy and using available morphologica...

PARASITOIDS AND BIOCONTROL: POSTER Ephedrus persicae is an extremely polyphagous aphid parasitoid, attacking more than 150 aphid hosts in all continents except Antarctica. Among aphid hosts of E. persicae, there are several economically very important aphids, i.e., Aphis craccivora, Aphis fabae, Aphis glycines, Aphis gossypii, Brachycaudus spp., Dy...