Abstract

Laricobius nigrinus (Coleoptera: Derodontidae) Fender and Laricobius osakensis (Coleoptera: Derodontidae) Montgomery and Shiyake have been mass produced by Virginia Tech as biological control agents for the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), Adelges tsugae (Hemiptera: Adelgidae) Annand, for the past 15 and 9 yr, respectively. Herein, we describe modifications of our rearing procedures, trends and analyses in the overall production of these agents, and the redistribution of these agents for release to local and federal land managers. Based on these data, we have highlighted three major challenges to the rearing program: 1) high mortality during the subterranean portion of its life cycle (averaging 63% annually) reducing beetle production, 2) asynchrony in estivation emergence relative to the availability of their host HWA minimizing food availability, and 3) unintended field collections of Laricobius spp. larvae on HWA provided to lab-reared larvae complicating rearing procedures. We further highlight corresponding avenues of research aimed at addressing each of these challenges to further improve Laricobius spp. production.

Details

Title
Historic Assessment and Analysis of the Mass Production of Laricobius spp. (Coleoptera: Derodontidae), Biological Control Agents for the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, at Virginia Tech
Author
Foley, Jeremiah R 1 ; Jubb, Carrie S 1 ; D Austin Cole 2 ; Mausel, David 3 ; Ashley Lamb Galloway 4 ; Brooks, Rachel 5 ; Salom, Scott M 1 

 Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA 
 Department of Statistics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA 
 US Forest Service, Forest Health Protection, Milwaukee, WI, USA 
 Math and Science Department, Roane State Community College, Harriman, TN, USA 
 Washington Department of Natural Resources, Forest Health and Resiliency Division, MS, Olympia, WA, USA 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
Jan 2021
Publisher
Oxford University Press
e-ISSN
15362442
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3170722231
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.