Background: Flight can drastically enhance dispersal capacity and is a key trait defining the potential of exotic insect species to spread and invade new habitats. The phytophagous European spongy moths (ESM, Lymantria dispar dispar) and Asian spongy moths (ASM; a multi-species group represented here by L. d.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTheodor Hartigs aphid and scale insect type specimens have been presumed lost or destroyed for the last 140 years. Here we document their discovery at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology (Zoologische Staatssammlung Mnchen, ZSM), in Munich, Germany. These specimens include primary types for 24 aphid, three adelgid, and two armored scale insect species named by Hartig between 1834 and 1851, as well as other specimens of unknown importance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe European winter moth, Operophtera brumata L. (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), was accidentally introduced to North America on at least 4 separate occasions, where it has been hybridizing with the native Bruce spanworm, O. bruceata Hulst, at rates up to 10% per year.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae (Annand)) is a serious invasive pest of hemlock trees in eastern North America. Multiple biological control agents have been the focus of research aimed at pest management and conserving hemlock communities. Three promising A.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHybridization plays an important and underappreciated role in shaping the evolutionary trajectories of species. Following the introduction of a non-native organism to a novel habitat, hybridization with a native congener may affect the probability of establishment of the introduced species. In most documented cases of hybridization between a native and a non-native species, a mosaic hybrid zone is formed, with hybridization occurring heterogeneously across the landscape.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA new genus of Chamaemyiidae (Diptera: Lauxanioidea) is described, namely Leucotaraxis gen. nov. (type species Leucopis atrifacies Aldrich; other included species Leucotaraxis argenticollis (Zetterstedt), comb.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe southern pine beetle, is a native pest of pine trees that has recently expanded its range into the northeastern United States. Understanding its colonization, dispersal, and connectivity will be critical for mitigating negative economic and ecological impacts in the newly invaded areas. Characterization of spatial-genetic structure can contribute to this; however, previous studies have reached different conclusions about regional population genetic structure, with one study reporting a weak east-west pattern, and the most recent reporting an absence of structure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany plant-sap-feeding insects have maintained a single, obligate, nutritional symbiont over the long history of their lineage. This senior symbiont may be joined by one or more junior symbionts that compensate for gaps in function incurred through genome-degradative forces. Adelgids are sap-sucking insects that feed solely on conifer trees and follow complex life cycles in which the diet fluctuates in nutrient levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReconstructing the geographic origins of non-native species is important for studying the factors that influence invasion success, however; these analyses can be constrained by the amount of diversity present in the native and invaded regions, and by changes in the genetic background of the invading population following bottlenecks and/or hybridization events. Here we explore the geographical origins of the invasive winter moth (Operopthera brumata L.) that has caused widespread defoliation to forests, orchards, and crops in Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Oregon, and the northeastern United States.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWinter moth, Operophtera brumata L. (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), causes widespread defoliation in both its native and introduced distributions. Invasive populations of winter moth are currently established in the United States and Canada, and pheromone-baited traps have been widely used to track its spread.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo species of silver fly, Leucopis argenticollis (Zetterstedt) and Leucopis piniperda (Malloch) (Diptera: Chamaemyiidae), from the Pacific Northwest region of North America have been identified as potential biological control agents of hemlock woolly adelgid (Hemiptera: Adelgidae: Adelges tsugae Annand) in eastern North America. The two predators are collectively synchronized with A. tsugae development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNumerous studies have shown that the genetic diversity of species inhabiting temperate regions has been shaped by changes in their distributions during the Quaternary climatic oscillations. For some species, the genetic distinctness of isolated populations is maintained during secondary contact, while for others, admixture is frequently observed. For the winter moth (), an important defoliator of oak forests across Europe and northern Africa, we previously determined that contemporary populations correspond to genetic diversity obtained during the last glacial maximum (LGM) through the use of refugia in the Iberian and Aegean peninsulas, and to a lesser extent the Caucasus region.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe hemlock woolly adelgid (Hemiptera: Adelgidae: Adelges tsugae Annand) is an invasive insect, introduced from Japan to eastern North America, where it causes decline and death of hemlock trees. There is a closely related lineage of A. tsugae native to western North America.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Entomol
September 2019
We collected data on mortality of late-instar gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), from outbreak populations over 4 wk in June 2017 at 10 sites in the New England region of the United States, along with estimated rainfall at these sites. Deposition of airborne conidia of the fungal pathogen, Entomophaga maimaiga Humber, Shimazu & R.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNutritional bacterial symbionts enhance the diets of sap-feeding insects with amino acids and vitamins missing from their diets. In many lineages, an ancestral senior symbiont is joined by a younger junior symbiont. To date, an emergent pattern is that senior symbionts supply a majority of amino acids, and junior symbionts supply a minority.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBacterial endosymbionts of sap-sucking insects provide their host with a number of beneficial qualities, including the supply of nutrition, defense against parasitoids, and protection from heat stress. Damage to these bacterial associates can therefore have a negative impact on the fitness of their insect host. We evaluated observational and experimental factors regarding the nonnative hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae Annand) (Hemiptera: Adelgidae) to help understand the roles of its three recently identified symbionts, including under heat stress conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChanges in climate conditions, particularly during the Quaternary climatic oscillations, have long been recognized to be important for shaping patterns of species diversity. For species residing in the western Palearctic, two commonly observed genetic patterns resulting from these cycles are as follows: (1) that the numbers and distributions of genetic lineages correspond with the use of geographically distinct glacial refugia and (2) that southern populations are generally more diverse than northern populations (the "southern richness, northern purity" paradigm). To determine whether these patterns hold true for the widespread pest species the winter moth (), we genotyped 699 individual winter moths collected from 15 Eurasian countries with 24 polymorphic microsatellite loci.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae, is an invasive pest of hemlock trees (Tsuga) in eastern North America. We used 14 microsatellites and mitochondrial COI sequences to assess its worldwide genetic structure and reconstruct its colonization history. The resulting information about its life cycle, biogeography and host specialization could help predict invasion by insect herbivores.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA taxonomic and nomenclatural Catalogue of the adelgids (Hemiptera: Adelgidae) is presented. Six family-group names are listed, five being synonyms of Adelgidae. Twenty-two genus-group names, of which nine are subjectively valid and in use, are presented with their type species, etymology, and grammatical gender.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe predatory species Laricobius nigrinus (Fender) and Laricobius osakensis (Shiyake and Montgomery) (Coleoptera: Derodontidae) have been released for biological control of hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae; Hemiptera: Adelgidae) in eastern North America. L. osakensis is native to Japan, whereas L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKnowledge of intraspecific variation in symbioses may aid in understanding the ecology of widespread insects in different parts of their range. We investigated bacterial symbionts of Adelges tsugae, a pest of hemlocks in eastern North America introduced from Asia. Amplification, cloning, and sequencing of bacterial 16S rDNA, in situ hybridizations, and electron microscopy revealed that A.
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