Euwallacea fornicatus
| Euwallacea fornicatus | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Curculionidae |
| Subfamily: | Scolytinae |
| Genus: | Euwallacea |
| Species: | E. fornicatus |
| Binomial name | |
|
Euwallacea fornicatus (Eichhoff, 1868) |
|
Euwallacea fornicatus is an invasive ambrosia beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae: Xyleborini) that causes economic losses when introduced into a new region. As the rest of the ambrosia beetles, E. fornicatus larvae and adults feed on a symbiotic fungus carried in a specific structure called mycangium. In E. fornicatus, the mycangium is located in the mandible. The combination of massive numbers of beetles with the symbiotic fungus kill trees, even though the fungus alone is a weak pathogen.
Euwallacea fornicatus breeds in various live hosts and is considered a severe pest of several economically important plants, such as: tea (Camellia sinensis), avocado (Persea americana), citrus (Citrus spp.) and cacao (Theobroma cacao).
Adult females are range between 1.9-2.5 mm long. They are bulky, dark brown or black and the frontal edge of the pronotum has a row of saw-like projections. Moreover, specimens have erect setae organized in rows in the elytral declivity with a costa in the posterolateral edge. As many other ambrosia beetles, males are significantly smaller, with non-functional wings.
Larvae are similar to all other larvae in the family Curculionidae; legless, c-shaped and a sclerotized head capsule.
The tea shot hole borer has been known to cause devastating damage to tea (Camelia sinesis) in at least ten different countries, including India and Sri Lanka where it is a major economic pest. In 2009, specimens matching the description for E. fornicatus were introduced into Israel, where they were documented as vectors of a new fungal plant pathogen in avocado trees. In 2012, similar fungal disease was recorded in avocado trees in California (CA). Since 2007, specimens of E. fornicatus have been documented in Florida on avocado trees, but it is not considered a health threat as any disease is expressed.
Even though several taxa were synonymized under the name E. fornicatus due to morphological similarity, some of the clades are different in terms of economic severity. Euwallacea fornicatus is considered a species complex, with several clades that occur in separate regions of Southeast Asia and develop in different hosts. Phylogenetic work using the DNA mitochondrial gene COI suggested that there are three major clades within the species E. fornicatus, supporting the idea of at least three different species with phlyogeographic boundaries within the species complex.
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Wikipedia