Podosesia syringae (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae): a new clearwing moth record for British Columbia

2008·1.1 MB·English

by  Virgiliu M Aurelian

J.Entomol. Soc. Brit.Columbia 105,December2008 111
SCIENTIFIC NOTE
Podosesia syringae (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae):
a new clearwing moth record for British Columbia
• VIRGILIU M. AURELIAN\ MARIO LANTHIER^
and GARY J.R. JUDD^
Podosesia syringae (Harris), commonly Armstrong, BC. In early 2007 cut sections
known as the ashborer, is a clearwing moth of these infested ashes were brought into
(Sesiidae) whose larvae are borers within the laboratory and the emerging adults were
the trunks oflilac, Syringa vulgaris L., and identified by one of us (VMA) as the ash
various ash species, Fraxinus spp. This borer, Podosesia syringae (Harris).
native North American insect (Eichlin and Voucher specimens from BC
Duckworth 1988) is considered a major (CNCLEP00041170 & CNCLEP0041171)
pest ofwild, cultivated and ornamental ash were deposited in the Canadian National
trees in eastern provinces and states Collection ofInsects, Arachnids andNema-
(Appleby 1973, Solomon 1983). In their todes, Ottawa, ON and confirmed as the ash
review ofNorth American Sesiidae, Eichlin borer by J-F. Landry (personal communica-
and Duckworth (1988) reported collections tion).
ofP. syringae from Washington State and In spring 2007 we surveyed wild and
1 eastern Alberta, but British Columbia (BC) ornamental lilacs surrounding nursery
was excluded from their description of its plantings in Westbank, and found evidence
I
I western range. Adults ofthis species occur oflarval feeding and pupal exuviae charac-
in two distinct colour morphs, a black teristic of the ash borer. In June 2007,
I
] morph that has a dark brown abdomen, and Pherocon 1-CP style wing traps (PheroTech
a yellow morph that has a light brown ab- Int. Inc., Delta, BC) baited with Clearwing
domen surrounded by yellow bands. The Borer lures SC LI03 (Scentry Biologicals,
two morphs are geographically distinct, the Billings, Montana,USA) containing (Z,Z)-3,
yellow morph fraxini being restricted to 13 octadecadienyl acetate, a known clear-
Western North America and the nominate wing male sex attractant and possibly the
morph being restricted to Eastern North major component ofthe female pheromone
America (Eichlin and Duckworth 1988). A for this species (Nielsen and Purrington
;
wide hybridization zone exists in the mid- 1978), were deployed in and around six ash
West and the prairies (Eichlin and nursery plantings in Westbank and Arm-
Duckworth 1988), suggesting the two ex- strong, BC. In a total of 102 traps deployed
^
treme morphs may be two different subspe- in both regions we captured 325 male P.
• cies. Future molecular research will be im- syringae adults. No black morphs were
portant in elucidating whether a subspecies captured in BC. Superficially, the yellow
level is warranted forthe ashborer. morph resembles a paper wasp (Polistes
,
In winter of 2006 one of us (ML) dis- spp.) but on a sticky trap it could also be
covered many unknown lepidopteran larvae confused with the Western poplar clear-
1
infesting various three-year-old Fraxinus wing, Paranthrene robinae Hy. Edwards;
J
spp. nursery stock collected from commer- which is native to BC. However, on closer
cial tree nurseries located in Westbank and examination P. syringae can be distin-
' Department ofBiological Sciences, University ofAlberta, CW315 Biological Sciences Building, Ed-
monton,AB,T6G2E9
W
^CropHealthAdvisingandResearch, P.O. Box28098, Kelowna,BC, VI 4A6
^ Corresponding Author: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, Box
5000,4200Highway97, Summerland,BC,VOH IZO. Email: [email protected]
1
112 J.Entomol. Soc.Brit. Columbia 105,December2008
Armstrong Westbank
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Trap Checks (Day / Month)
Figure 1. Temporal pattern of seasonal catches of male P. syringae adults in sex-attractant
baited stickytraps attwo locationswithin the OkanaganValley, BC, in 2007.
guished from P. robinae by the presence of the fall of2007. Our catches ofP. syringae
a very long first metatarsal segment and confirmed the presence of this species in
distinctive forewing venation. the absence ofash, supporting the view that
Weekly trap checks revealed a male local plantings of lilac on residential prop-
flight period that lasted six weeks in West- erties outside the nursery of initial discov-
bank with peak flight occurring in the first ery are now apotential source ofthis insect.
halfofJune (Fig. 1). Further north in Arm- From these results we conclude that P. sy-
strong, the flightperiod was more extended, ringae is established within parts of the
ending in the first half of August, but the Okanagan Valley, BC. However, the origi-
smaller peak flight occurred about the same nal source ofinfestationremains unknown.
time as it did in Westbank. In easternNorth We thank Larisa Aurelian for help col-
America adult flight begins in April and lecting biological specimens. This research
ends in July (Neal and Eichlin 1983). In was partially supported with ftmds from a
summer 2008 we redeployed sex-attractant BC Ministry ofAgriculture andLands Plant
traps around a fallow nursery field from Health GrantheldbyGJ.
which all ash trees had been harvested in
REFERENCES
Appleby, J.E. 1973. Observations on the life history and control ofthe lilac borer. Journal ofEconomic
Entomology66: 248-249.
Eichlin, T.D. and W.D. Duckworth. 1988. Sesioidea: Sesiidae. In. R.B. Dominick. Themoths ofAmerica
northofMexico, fascicle5.1. WedgeEntomological ResearchFoundation,Washington,D.C. USA.
Neal, J.W. andT.D. Eichlin 1983. Seasonal responseofsixmale Sesiidae ofwoodyornamentalstoclear-
wingborer(Lepidoptera: Sesiidae)lure. EnvironmentalEntomology 12: 206-209.
Nielsen, D.G. and F.F. Purrington. 1978. Field attraction ofmale Podosesiasyringae andP. aureocincta
toblendsofsyntheticcompounds. Environmental Entomology7: 708-710.
Solomon, J.D. 1983. Culturing the lilac borerPodosesia syringae, a serious pest ofgreen ash {Fraxinus
pennsylvanica).JournaloftheGeorgiaEntomological Society 18: 300-313.