A contribution to Cerataphis molecular taxonomy and ecology: the Costa Rican case

The aphid genus Cerataphis Lichtenstein is native to Southeast Asia although several species have been distributed to other tropical regions of the world. Cerataphis brasiliensis (Hempel) and Cerataphis lataniae (Boisduval) are of interest due to their potential as pests on palms. Those species and Cerataphis orchidearum (Westwood) may be morphologically confused with each other. In Costa Rica, two species have been reported, C. brasiliensis and C. orchidearum. This work aimed to contribute molecular data and ecological observations for species of Cerataphis present in Costa Rica. Few colonies (low frequency of occurrence) of C. brasiliensis and C. orchidearum were recorded during a survey conducted during 2014. Ten ant species were found associated to these aphid colonies. Partial sequences for the genes COI and EF-1 alpha were obtained and compared to the few sequences available for this genus in public databases. Species identification by COI (barcoding) was not conclusive. Phylogenetic analyses and similarity pairwise comparisons showed a close relationship with the genus Tuberaphis Takahashi, including the clustering of mixed species from both genera. Yeast-like symbionts were detected by PCR in individuals of both Cerataphis species found in Costa Rica. Overall, the results suggest there is a need of curated sequence data representing the different Cerataphis species worldwide.