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One of the most striking insects in our country is the chinita, of which there are around 100 species in our country, many of them endemic. However, since 2003 the presence of “Harmonia axyridis” also known as harlequin or Asian chinita has been recorded, an invasive species that has been introduced in different countries as a controller of agricultural pests such as aphids.
Unfortunately their voracity and large size generates problems for the other Chinese women, as well as for crops and human beings.
Professor Audrey Grez, from the Faculty of Veterinary and Livestock Sciences, analyzed for Prensa U. de Chile the problems associated with its presence in the country.
Chinitas, despite their attractiveness and harmless appearance, are natural enemies of several important pests for the development of agriculture, such as aphids, which is why some of their species have been used in several countries as biological controllers of this type of disease. species.
However, the introduction of the “chinita harlequin” or “Asian”, a particularly large and very voracious species, has subsequently generated problems. Only in 2008 this species was registered in our country, when a team headed by Professor Audrey Grez, from the Faculty of Veterinary and Livestock Sciences, identified a specimen in the Pirque area among thousands of Chinese collected for a study.
The academic, who has been working around the species of coccinellids for more than 20 years and who heads the citizen science initiative “Chinita harlequín”, explained what the risks of this species are and why it is important to monitor their presence in the country.
How did you get to Chile?
The harlequin chinita is of Asian origin and is characterized by being very voracious and much larger than other species of chinitas, explained the academic. “It was introduced in various parts of the world for the biological control of pests. Even in Chile, in 1998 a variety that had short wings, so it could not fly, was introduced to control pests in greenhouses. They brought it from France, and it had these characteristics because it was not wanted to expand, and indeed it was never established, “he said.
A decade later, Professor Grez’s team identified a harlequin chinita in Pirque, and they sent some specimens to France to be analyzed, at which time it was detected that they were genetically identical to a variety produced in the United States, and that it is the one that has invaded many countries of the world, particularly countries with temperate climates.
What is the problem that it has arrived?
- The chinitas in general eat each other, it is a natural phenomenon, “but the chinita harlequin not only ate the aphids, leaving the other species without food, but also ate more of the other chinitas, reducing the presence of other species notably in Chile, Europe and the US “, threatening the natural heritage and biodiversity, the specialist explained.
- The second problem described in the literature, but which according to academics still does not occur in Chile, is that this chinita appears in crops in spring but then goes to the high mountains or south since it does not tolerate high temperatures, and in autumn before going to hibernate it is grouped into soft fruits such as grapes, blueberries, strawberries and others, so that “in places that are producers of wine they generate a complex situation because if the wine is contaminated by the larvae, the The egg or the adult, when the grapes are harvested in autumn, the wine conditions may change “.
- The third problem is that when they hibernate they do so inside the houses, forming colonies of chinitas, generating various annoyances to people. “People kill them or take them out and go back inside because they look for thermal shelters, even in apartments on a 17th floor. When you disturb them, they generate a yellow liquid that stains curtains, walls, sheets, and if you are allergic, it could generate a small reaction, “said the FAVET professor.
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