Novel strain of Spiroplasma found in flower bugs of the genus Orius (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae): transovarial transmission, coexistence with Wolbachia and varied population density.

Spiroplasma, a group of small, wall-less, helical, and motile bacteria belonging to the Mollicutes, contains species with diverse life histories. To date, all the Spiroplasma strains that are known to be transmitted vertically in arthropod lineages belong to either the Spiroplasma ixodetis group or the Spiroplasma poulsonii group. Here, we found that a unique strain of Spiroplasma vertically transmitted in predatory flower bugs of the genus Orius belongs to the Spiroplasma insolitum group, which is a group of bacteria phylogenetically closely related to S. insolitum derived from the tickseed sunflower, Bidens sp. (Asterales: Asteraceae). The infection frequencies in natural populations were16.0% in Orius sauteri (n = 75), 40.5% in Orius nagaii (n = 37), and 8.0% in Orius minutus (n = 87). Orius strigicollis was not infected with Spiroplasma (n = 147). In the early stage of oogenesis (i.e., within the germarium), a large number of bacteria with the typical morphology of Spiroplasma existed, keeping a distance from Wolbachia bacteria. The Spiroplasma population seemed to increase during host development but Wolbachia population did not.