Colorado Potato Beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say)

Abstract

Colorado potato beetle (CPB) was naturally dispersed from Kazakhstan into Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China in 1993. Since then, it has been widely distributed all over the southern region of the Tianshan Mountain. Chinese scientists focused on its monitoring and invasion risk management in China, as well as its invasion biology and ecology related to rapid dispersal, such as developmental threshold and cumulative temperature, diapause condition, and influence factors for flight. In invaded regions of China, several techniques such as improved crop cultivation techniques, friendly environmental chemical control (low or none toxic insecticides), biological control, physical techniques, ecological regulations etc. can be combined into an integrated pest management of CPB. However, some questions still remain in theses fields, for example, the genetic variations, environment (hosts, habitats, climates, soil etc.) adaptabilities and geographical populations of CPB are still unclear, and mechanisms of CPB's rapid resistance development to pesticides have not been well understood. The concerned diapause mechanisms are still unknown. Moreover, the interactions between CPB, hosts, pathogens, predators and parasitoids, environments have not been studied, and the resistance or tolerance of potato plants to CPB and their related mechanisms all need to be understood in order to breed CPB-resistant potato crops.