Cyzenis albicans
{{short description|Species of fly}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Cyzenis.albicans.-.lindsey.jpg
| image_caption =
| genus = Cyzenis
| species = albicans
| authority = (Fallén, 1810){{cite journal |last1=Fallen |first1=C.F. |title=Forsok att bestamma de i Sverige funne flugarter, som kunna foras till slagtet Tachina |journal=K. Vetensk. Acad. Nya Handl. |date=1810 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=253–287}}
| display_parents = 3
| synonyms = *Cyzenis hemisphaerica Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863{{cite book |last= Robineau-Desvoidy|first= Jean-Baptiste |date= 1863 |title= Histoire naturelle des dipteres des environs de Paris. |url= https://archive.org/download/histoirenaturell02robi/histoirenaturell02robi.pdf|publisher= Masson et Fils, Paris.|volume= Tome second|pages= 1–920 |access-date=15 February 2015}}
- Cyzenis vernalis Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863
- Paraneaera varipes Strobl, 1900{{cite journal |last1=Strobl |first1=G. |title=Tief's dipterologischer Nachlass aus Karnten und Oesterr.-Schlesien |journal=Jahrbuch des Naturhistorischen Landesmuseums von Kärnten |date=1900 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=171–246}}
- Tachina albicans Fallén, 1810
- Tachina ferrugineotibialis Zetterstedt, 1859{{cite book |last1=Zetterstedt |first1=J.W. |title=Diptera Scandinaviae disposita et descipta. Tomus tridecimus seu supplementum quartum, continens addenda, corrigenda & emendata tomis duodecim prioribus, una cum cospectu omnium generum |date=1859 |publisher=Officina Lundbergiana |location=Lundae [= Lund.] |pages=xvi+ 4943-6190}}
- Tachina leucophaea Meigen, 1824{{cite journal|last1=Meigen|first1=J. W.|title=Systematische Beschreibung der bekannten europaischen zweiflugeligen Insekten.|journal=Vierter Theil. Schulz-Wundermann, Hamm.|date=1824|pages=xii + 428 pp|url= https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/45862#page/9/mode/1up|accessdate=9 May 2020}}
- Tachina perturbans Zetterstedt, 1844{{cite journal |last1=Zetterstedt |first1=J.W. |title=Diptera Scandinaviae disposita et descripta |journal=Tomus Tertius |date=1844 |volume=Officina Lundbergiana, Lundae [= Lund.] |pages=895–1280}}
- Tachina schistacea Meigen, 1824
}}
Cyzenis albicans is a species of fly in the family Tachinidae.{{cite book | last = Chandler | first = Peter J. | year = 1998 | title = Checklists of Insects of the British Isles (New Series) Part 1: Diptera | series = Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects | volume = 12 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–234 | isbn = 0-901546-82-8 | publisher = Royal Entomological Society of London | location = London }} A parasitoid, it lays its eggs on leaves of oak, maple, birch and other trees, so that when the leaves are consumed by the larvae of the host winter moth, the eggs hatch inside the larvae. The fly is native to Europe and Asia but has been introduced into North America as a biological control agent of the invasive winter moth.
Ecology
Cyzenis albicans is a parasitoid, the female laying its eggs on the surface of leaves which are then eaten by the larvae of suitable host moth species.{{cite book|author=Capinera, John L.|title=Encyclopedia of Entomology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i9ITMiiohVQC&pg=PA4278 |year=2008 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1-4020-6242-1 |page=4278}} This fly is synovigenic, continuing to produce and mature eggs throughout its adult life and needing to feed in order to do so.{{cite book|author=Jervis, M.A.|title=Insect Natural Enemies: Practical approaches to their study and evaluation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_MroCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA75 |year=2012 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-94-011-0013-7 |pages=75–76}} The fly larvae feed internally on the moth larvae, pupating within the moth pupae when their hosts have fallen to the ground, and emerging as adults the following spring.{{cite journal |author=Embree, D.G. |year=1960 |title=Observations on the Spread of Cyzenis albicans (Fall.) (Tachinidae: Diptera), an Introduced Parasite of the Winter Moth, Operophtera brumata (L.), (Geometridae: Lepidoptera), in Nova Scotia |journal=The Canadian Entomologist |volume=92 |issue=11 |pages=862–864 |doi=10.4039/Ent92862-11 |s2cid=85171174 }}
Hosts
In Europe and Asia, where this fly is native, the larvae of several geometrid moths are parasitised. These include the winter moth (Operophtera brumata), the northern winter moth (Operophtera fagata), the oak nycteoline (Nycteola revayana), the elm autumn moth (Ypsolopha vittella) and the pimpinel pug (Eupithecia pimpinellata).{{cite web |url=https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NBNSYS0000030212 |title=Cyzenis albicans (Fallén, 1810) |publisher=NBN Atlas |accessdate=December 10, 2017}} In North American, where it has been introduced, it is only known to use winter moth (Operophtera brumata) as a host.{{cite web |last1=Elkinton |first1=J |last2=Boettner |first2=G |last3=Liebhold |first3=A |last4=Gwiazdowski |first4=R |title=BIOLOGY, SPREAD, AND BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF WINTER MOTH IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES |url=https://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/technology/pdfs/FHTET-2014-07_Biology_Control_Winter-Moth.pdf |publisher=The Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team |accessdate=31 December 2018}}
Use in biological control
The winter moth first appeared in Nova Scotia, Canada, in the 1920s. By 1949 it had spread, causing defoliation of trees on a wide scale, and had been identified as a pest species. In 1954 and 1955, several insect species were introduced from Europe in an attempt to control it. The most successful of these were the parasitic wasp Agrypon flaveolatum and the parasitoid fly C. albicans, both of which became established in Canada.{{cite book|author=Huffaker, C.|title=Biological Control |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7wjTBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |year=2013 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-1-4615-6528-4 |pages=109, 169}} As the numbers of parasites built up, so the populations of the winter moth declined.
Winter moths were first noted in the United States in the late 1990s in the state of Massachusetts. During the next decade they spread from Boston, south to Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod, into Rhode Island, and Connecticut. There also have been outbreaks of winter moth in coastal New Hampshire and Maine. Winter moth defoliates maples, oaks, fruit trees, and other deciduous trees. Attempts at biological control followed with the release of C. albicans since 2005. The wasp was considered unsuitable because it is unknown if it is host specific and there are some rare geometrid moths in the area. The fly has become successfully established in Massachusetts, and the level of parasitism of the moth larvae had reached 20–50% by 2015,{{cite web |url=https://ag.umass.edu/landscape/fact-sheets/winter-moth-in-massachusetts-history-biological-control |title=Winter Moth in Massachusetts: History and Biological Control |author1=Elkinton, Joseph |author2=Boettner, George |author3=Simisky, Tawny |author4=Swanson, Deborah |date=March 3, 2017 |publisher=UMass Amherst |accessdate=December 10, 2017}} after thousands of Cyzenis albicans were released at 17 sites in New England.{{Cite web |author=Gans |first=Felicia |date=November 30, 2015 |title=Winter moths make appearance for mating season |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/11/30/adult-winter-moths-make-appearance-for-mating-season/DALulttys9SLaEZKTlFP8O/story.html?s_campaign=8315 |accessdate=December 3, 2015 |website=The Boston Globe}}
In its native range, C. albicans has very little impact on populations of winter moth, and its success in biological control of this invasive pest in Canada and the United States was difficult to predict; soil conditions seem to have been of importance, and there may have been a dearth of natural enemies to prey on the flies, enabling them to become established.{{cite book|title=Advances in Plant Pathology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SqHUOitkwssC&pg=PA133|year=1995 |publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-08-052678-2 |page=133}} A recent study on the mortality factors affecting C. albicans puparia in Massachusetts shows that, in fact, C. albicans experiences heavy mortality from generalist pupal predators and parasitoids.{{cite journal |last1=Broadley |first1=H |last2=Kelly |first2=E |last3=Elkinton |first3=J |last4=Kula |first4=R |last5=Boettner |first5=G |title=Identification and impact of hyperparasitoids and predators affecting Cyzenis albicans (Tachinidae), a recently introduced biological control agent of winter moth (Operophtera brumata L.) in the northeastern U.S.A. |journal=Biological Control |date=2018 |volume=121 |pages=99–108 |doi=10.1016/j.biocontrol.2018.01.011 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2018BiolC.121...99B }}