ISHS Acta Horticulturae 811: VI International Congress on Cactus Pear and Cochineal
BIOGEOGRAPHY OF DACTYLOPIIDAE AND HUMAN FACTOR |
| Author: | L. Portillo |
| Keywords: | Dactylopius species, cochineal rearing, geographic distribution, natural enemies, Opuntia hosts |
| Abstract:
Dactylopids hemipterans are used as pigment for food, drugs, cosmetics, handcrafts, and biological control agents. However, no study has reported how the distribution of dactylopids has been influenced by man. The present work had as objective to review the influence of man on geographic distribution of dactylopids. Based in literature, visits to natural habitats of Opuntia host plants and several areas where cochineal was or is produced, the distribution of dactylopiids is discussed with special emphasis in ecology and human factors. Since cactus fossils have not yet been found, it was necessary to look back to the continental drift theory as well as the phylogeny of cactus hosts and related plants. Cacti originated in South America and dispersed to North America; there, specific factors allowed developing new associations as happened to Opuntia and their natural enemies, which coevolved to become new species. Dactylopius coccus, D. confusus, D. bassi, D. opuntiae and D. tomentosus are found in North America, and D. austrinus, D. ceylonicus, D. confertus, D. salmianus and D. zimmermanii in South America. Because of their usefulness to man, both Opuntia and dactilopids are organisms of wide interest for commercial production; the effect is that their distribution, originally Neotropical and Neartic, now encompasses Afrotropical, Australasian, Paleartic and Oriental regions. Some effects of these activities have made that cochineal world production currently reaches more than 2000 t yr-1, but they also created new plagues issues, as seen in the presence of D. opuntiae in Opuntia ficus-indica plantations in Brazil, Spain, and other countries. | |
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