Collecting Nontarget Wood-Boring Insects for Host-Specificity Testing of Natural Enemies of Cerambycids: A Case Study of Dastarcus helophoroides (Coleoptera: Bothrideridae), a Parasitoid of the Asian Longhorned Beetle (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

Sep 7, 2018Environmental entomology

Collecting non-target wood-boring insects to test natural enemies of Asian longhorned beetles: a case study of the beetle parasite Dastarcus helophoroides

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Abstract

1,288 adult beetles comprising 56 species were collected using modified traps baited with specific pheromones.

Traps were designed to maintain live insects and were deployed in various forests in southeastern Massachusetts.
The species captured were mostly from the targeted subfamilies, Cerambycinae and Lamiinae.
The type of trap and the tree species used did not significantly influence the diversity of species collected.
Tests showed that the parasitoid Dastarcus helophoroides attacked all six native cerambycid species examined.
Native cerambycids exhibited similar levels of parasitism as the Asian longhorned beetle, except for a few species with differing habitat preferences.
Findings suggest that many native cerambycids could be at risk if D. helophoroides is released as a biocontrol agent in North America.

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We describe approaches to addressing the perennial challenge of collecting a sufficient diversity of nontarget insects for host-specificity testing of candidate biocontrol agents of invasive wood-borers such as the Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Multifunnel and intercept traps, retrofitted to maintain live insects and baited with cerambycid-specific pheromone lures, were deployed in diverse forests in southeastern Massachusetts. We collected 1,288 adult beetles comprising 56 species, mostly from the subfamilies targeted by the lures (Cerambycinae and Lamiinae). The type of trap and tree species in which the trap was hung did not seem to affect the species caught. Methods used to induce egg laying and techniques to rear cerambycid larvae are described. Dastarcus helophoroides (Fairmaire) (Coleoptera: Bothrideridae) is the most common Asian longhorned beetle parasitoid in China; therefore, we conducted tests to determine whether cerambycids native to North America would be at risk should this species be released. D. helophoroides attacked all six species tested: Monochamus scutellatus (Say) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae), Monochamus notatus (Drury) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae), Apriona rugicollis Chevrolat (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae), Enaphalodes rufulus (Haldeman) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae), Graphisurus fasciatus (DeGeer) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae), and Neoclytus acuminatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae). Parasitism of native cerambycids was not statistically different from parasitism of Asian longhorned beetle, except for N. acuminatus, which is a considerably smaller species than Asian longhorned beetle, and for M. notatus and M. scutellatus, which attack pine trees rather than hardwood trees like Asian longhorned beetle and the other native species tested. Our testing indicates that many native cerambycids would be vulnerable to D. helophoroides and we conclude that D. helophoroides should not be considered for release as a biocontrol agent in North America.

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Collecting Nontarget Wood-Boring Insects for Host-Specificity Testing of Natural Enemies of Cerambycids: A Case Study of Dastarcus helophoroides (Coleoptera: Bothrideridae), a Parasitoid of the Asian Longhorned Beetle (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

Abstract

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