Effect of different plant species and temperatures on the survival of Philaenus spumarius

Abstract

The spittlebug Philaenus spumarius (L.) has been identified as vector for the damaging bacterium X. fastidiosa in Europe. The knowledge about this insect biology and survival developing on native plants from Europe is crucial to establish ground cover management strategies in olive orchards to control the X. fastidiosa spread. In this study we aimed to evaluate the survival of adults developing on two native and common plants in Europe as well as the effect of different temperatures on the P. spumarius survival. The species selected for the survival analysis were Medicago arabica (L.) Huds. and Sanguisor baverrucosa (Link exG.Don) Ces. These plants are distributed all across Europe and presented foams near the campus, where they were collected. New born adults (<24h) were used for survival analysis. Six treatments (M. sativa 21⁰C, M. sativa 25⁰C, S. verrucosa 21⁰C, water 21⁰C, water 25⁰C and water 4⁰C) with 21 to 30 replicates were accomplished. Results indicated that survival of P. spumarius could improve when developing on different plants species. Variation in temperatures also affected the P. spumarius survival, being particularly remarkable the improvement of survival under 4⁰C when compared with the other water treatments. ; This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N. 727987 "Xylella fastidiosa Active Containment Through a multidisciplinary-Oriented Research Strategy XF-ACTORS". ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion