Abstract

Hippodamia convergens—the convergent lady beetle, has been used extensively in aug- mentative biological control of aphids, thrips, and whiteflies across its native range in North America, and was introduced into South America in the 1950s. Overwintering H. convergens populations from its native western range in the United States are com- mercially collected and released across its current range in the eastern USA, with little knowledge of the effectiveness of its augmentative biological control. Here we use a novel ddRADseq-based SNP/haplotype discovery approach to estimate its range- wide population diversity, differentiation, and recent evolutionary history. Our results indicate (1) significant population differentiation among eastern USA, western USA, and South American populations of H. convergens, with (2) little to no detectable re- cent admixture between them, despite repeated population augmentation, and (3) continued recent population size expansion across its range. These results contradict previous findings using microsatellite markers. In light of these new findings, the im- plications for the effectiveness of augmentative biological control using H. convergens are discussed. Additionally, because quantifying the non-target effects of augmenta- tive biological control is a difficult problem in migratory beetles, our results could serve as a cornerstone in improving and predicting the efficacy of future releases of H. convergens across its range.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

Notes/Citation Information

© 2023 The Authors. Evolutionary Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13631

Funding Information

Agricultural Research Service, Grant/ Award Number: 1008480, 2017- 06423 and 2022-77040-38529; Division of Biological Infrastructure, Grant/Award Number: 1564659 and 2042516

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