Host plant selection and resource utilisation by Asian longhorn beetle Anoplophora glabripennis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in southern England

Abstract

In February 2012, an outbreak of Asian longhorn beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky), was discovered at Paddock Wood in Kent, in southern England, next to a small industrial premise where a previous company had imported stone from China. Anoplophora glabripennis is a serious pest of deciduous broadleaved trees and is native to China, but it has been transported around the world in wood packaging material. Its discovery at Paddock Wood prompted an eradication programme in which all infested trees and any trees within 100 m that could have acted as a host for the beetle were felled and destroyed. Out of a total of 2229 trees felled, 66 were found to contain A. glabripennis life stages and exit holes, ranging in size from small trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) of 5 cm to mature trees with a DBH of >80 cm. The most important host was sycamore, Acer pseudoplatanus. Twenty-six per cent of all A. pseudoplatanus growing within the infestation area were attacked by A. glabripennis, and this species contained 70 and 98 per cent of the total larvae and adult exit holes, respectively. In comparison, only 3 per cent of field maple (Acer campestre), poplars (Populus spp.), willow (Salix spp.) and birch (Betula pendula) were attacked. Larvae and pupae were found in branches with a diameter as small as 2.1 cm, but most occurred in stems and branches 4-10 cm in diameter. Larvae and pupae in small branches suffered high rates of mortality, especially from predation by woodpeckers. The detailed information collected from this outbreak helps to clarify the host preferences of A. glabripennis and, with regard to survey and monitoring, it indicates those tree species and parts of the tree where the pest is most likely to be found.