Pests
Scolytus rugulosus (Mueller). - Fruit Bark Beetle.
Systematic position.
Class Insecta, order Coleoptera, family Scolytidae, genus Scolytus Geoffr.Synonyms.
Scolytus assimilis Boh.; S. caucasicus But.; S. fauveli Rtt.; S. haemorrhous Schmidb.; S. intermedius Sokan.; S. manglissiensis Lezh.; S. samarkandicus But.; S. sanctaluciae Hoffm.; S. similis But.; S. taxicola Lezh.; Eccoptogaster mediterraneus Egg.Biological group.
Pest of apple, pear, plum, hawthorn, mountain ash, buckthorn, nut, mulberry tree, hazel, hornbeam, beech, elm.Morphology and biology.
Body length is 1.4-3.2 mm. Adult black, matte, and elongated. Female frons is more convex. Pronotum is shining and covered with coarse elongated punctures, which form longitudinal wrinkles at base and laterally. Apical margin of pronotum and apex of elytra are reddish-brown. Elytra are matte, with longitudinal rugosity, indented along margin in posterior third. Elytral striae are deep and narrow; interstriae have a row of light erected hairs. Punctures in elytral striae and interstriae are nearly equal. Abdomen is straightly sloped distad from the second sternite, swollen in basal part, without any granules and denticles; fifth sternite has no excavation. Abdomen is covered with double pubescence of dense decumbent tiny hairs and sparse long oblique ones.Distribution.
The species inhabits major part of Europe, Northern Africa, Asia Minor, Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Mongolia. It is introduced to the North and South Americas. In the former USSR, it is widely distributed in the European part northward to Arkhangelsk, in the Caucasus, Siberia eastward to Transbaikalia and Mongolia, in Middle Asia and all Kazakhstan.Ecology.
The species is monovoltine in the northern part of area and bivoltine in Crimea, Caucasus, and Middle Asia. It hibernates in stage of mature larva; pupation occurs in spring deeply within alburnum. Adults fly from about mid-May and continue flying during summer. Young beetles gnaw buds and bark around the buds. They mainly attack slender branches of depressed trees. Female gnaws out longitudinal mother gallery under the bark, 1-2 cm (rarely 3 cm) long, and small cavities for eggs in the sides of mother gallery. Fertility is about 10-100 eggs. Twigs of about 25 cm long sometimes have up to 15 mother galleries each. Finishing oviposition, the female perishes through exit hole and closes up the gallery. Larval galleries are long, sinuous, and crossed with each other. The mother gallery is sometimes slanting, with only 2 or 3 larval galleries. S. rugulosus mortality caused by parasites is about 16% in Middle Asia.Economic significance.
The species is the most abundant among engravers. The pest damages mainly in abandoned old orchards in steppe zone of Ukraine and in Kazakhstan. It causes the decrease of yield and annual shoot growth. Perhaps adults are the vectors of Ceratocystis ulmi (Buism.), which causes Dutch elm disease. Control measures include using fertilizations, pruning and burning of trees and branches infested by S. rugulosus; the use of trap trees and trap branches for adults. Pesticide treatment is necessary at the pest high abundance during flight of adults. Irrigation is one of the control measures against the pest in orchards of the southern regions.Reference citations:
Alonso-Zarazaga M.A. 2007. Fauna Europaea. http://www.faunaeur.org/index.phpChugunin Ya.V. 1935. Control of orchard pests. Moscow & Leningrad: OGIZ, 160 p. (in Russian).
Eremenko T.S. 1961. Scolytids as orchard pests in Tashkent Region. PhD Thesis. Leningrad: VIZR, 16 p. (in Russian).
Gussakovskii V.V. 1949. Order Coleoptera. In: Pavlovskii E.N. & Shtakelberg A.A., eds. Pest Animals of Middle Asia (handbook). Moscow & Leningrad: AN SSSR. P. 220-222 (in Russian).
Kostin I.A. 1960. Data on the fauna of bark beetles of Kazakhstan (Coleoptera, Ipidae). In: Galuzo I.G., ed. Proceeding of Zoological Institute of Kazakhstan. Vol. 11. Alma-Ata: Nauka, P. 129-136. (in Russian).
Kostin I.A. 1973. Dendrophagous beetles of Kazakhstan (Ipidae, Cerambycidae, Buprestidae). Alma-Ata: Nauka, 288 p. (in Russian).
Krivolutskaya G.O. 1965. Family Ipidae. In: Bei-Bienko G.Ya., ed. Keys to the insects of the European part of the USSR. V. 2. Moscow & Leningrad: Nauka, p. 622-639. (in Russian).
Krivolutskaya G.O. 1996. Family Scolytidae (Ipidae). In: Ler P.A., ed. Keys to insects of the Far East of the USSR. V. 3. Coleoptera, or beetles. Part 3. Vladivostok: Dal'nauka. p. 312-317 (in Russian).
Kryzhanovskii O.L. 1974. Family Scolytidae. In: Kryzhanovskii O.L., ed. Insects and mites . pests of agricultural plants. V. 2. Coleoptera. Leningrad: Nauka, p. 293-301 (in Russian).
Mandelshtam M.Yu. 2001. Scolytidae of Lenigrad Region. St.Petersburg: http://www.zin.ru/Animalia/Coleoptera/rus/scolspb.htm
Mandelshtam M.Yu. & Popovichev B.G. 2000. Annotated list of bark beetles (Coleoptera, Scolytidae) of Leningrad Region. Entomologicheskoe obozrenie 79(3): 599-618. (in Russian).
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Plotnikov V.I. 1926. Insects damaging agricultural plants in Middle Asia. Tashkent: Tashoblit. 292 p. (in Russian).
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Rudnev D.F. & Vasechko G.I. 1974. Family Ipidae. In: Vasil.ev V.P., ed. Pests of agricultural crops and forest plantations. V. 2. Arthropods. Kiev: Urozhai. p. 177-217 (in Russian).
Samedov N.G. 1963. Fauna and biology of beetles injuring agricultural plants in Azerbaijan. Baku: AN Azerb. SSR. 384 p. (in Russian).
Shvetsova A.N. 1950. The main pests of fruit tree and berry plants in the Omsk Region and control measures. Omsk: Obl.izdat, 70 p. (in Russian).
Silfverberg, H. Enumeratio Coleopterorum Fennoscandiae, Daniae et Baltiae. Helsinki-Helsingfors: Helsingin Hyonteisvaihtoyhdistys, 1992. 94 p.
Stark V.N. 1952. Bark-beetles. Coleoptera. In: Shtakel'berg A.A., ed. Fauna of the USSR. V. 31. Moscow & Leningrad: AN SSSR. 462 p. (in Russian).
Vasil.ev V.P. & Livshits I.Z., 1958. Pests of fruit crops. Moscow: Gosizd. Sel.khoz. lit. 392 p. (in Russian).
Voolma K., Mandelshtam M.Yu., Shcherbakov A.N., Yakovlev E.B., Ounap H., Syda I., Popovichev B.G., Sharapa T.V., Galasjeva T.V., Khairetdinov R.R., Lipatkin V.A. & Mozolevskaya E.G. 2004. Distribution and spread of bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) around the Gulf of Finland: a comparative study with notes on rare species of Estonia, Finland and Northwestern Russia. / Entomol. Fennica. 15: 198-210.