Gel-electrophoretic description of European populations ofTerellia virens (Loew) (Diptera,Tephritidae); implications for its use as an agent for the biological control ofCentaurea spp. (Asteraceae) in North America

Allozyme frequencies of 15 enzyme loci, 14 of which were polymorphic, were used to characterize sevenTerellia virens populations originating from three allopatrically distributedCentaurea species. The two populations whose origins were geographically furthest apart, from Israel (onC. iberica) and from Switzerland (onC. vallesiaca), showed relatively high values of genetic distance from the 5 populations sampled in Austria and Hungary (onC. maculosa) (Nei's D>0.07). The latter five displayed a high degree of genetic similarity. No diagnostic (fixed) allelic differences were observed between these three groups ofT. virens populations, but they could be well characterized by significant differences in allelic frequencies at 9 enzyme loci. Independently of this study, the populations from Switzerland (C. vallesiaca) and eastern Austria (C. maculosa) were selected as potential source populations for future introductions into North America for the biological control of introducedC. maculosa andC. diffusa. Based on the observed genetic differences and results from field experiments on the host specificity of these two potential source populations, it is argued that host specificity screening tests should be conducted separately for local (host plant) populations, as such populations might accept a different set of hosts. Biotype mismatch and the risk of spill-overs to native species could thus possibly be reduced.