Plata, Á., Gómez-Martínez, M.A., Beitia, F.J., & Tena, A. 2024 New crop, new pest, old ants: Crop colonisation by native ants disrupt biological control of an invasive mealybug in Mediterranean persimmon. Ecological Entomology https://doi.org/10.1111/een.13395
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Notes: Here, we used persimmon, a recently expanded crop, to first describe the trophobiotic interactions established between the most abundant herbivore, the mealybug Ps. longispinus and native or exotic ants. The information will be useful to design new management strategies against the mealybug but also to understand the role of ants in the adaptation of phloem-feeding insects to new crops.
