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In two geographical points of the Krasnodar Territory, viz. vil. Botanika, Gulkevichi District (eastern subzone of the Central natural-economic zone of the Krasnodar Territory) and st. Kurchanskaya, Temryuk District (Anapo-Taman natural-economic zone) on industrial plantations of maize, Delta sticky traps supplied with various baits were tested for attractiveness for adults of the European corn borer (ECB), Ostrinia nubilalis Hbn. In contrast to sex pheromones, traps with ‘bisex lure’ (semiochemicals phenylacetaldehyde and 4-methoxy-2-phenethyl alcohol) or LEDs captured a considerable number of females, whose prognostic value was significantly higher than that of males. On maize fields near Botanika traps with ‘bisex lure’ caught moths almost at 20- and traps with LEDs more than 70-fold higher rate as compared to sex pheromones. On maize plantations near Kurchanskaya, where both the saturation of crop rotations with maize fields and the pest population is significantly lower, semiochemicals caught ECB moths at the same rate as sex pheromones, in contrast to LEDs, which attracted insects by an order of magnitude more frequently. The results of the tests indicate that the use of LED traps for monitoring of ECB is promising under the modern economic situation of expanding the territories intended for the production of corn grain.

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Background. Endosymbiotic bacteria of the genus Wolbachia are widespread in arthropods and often cause reproductive abnormalities in lepidopteran insects, including corn borers of the genus Ostrinia. Wolbachia-Ostrinia is a promising model for studies of parasite-host interactions yet parasite prevalence in natural insect host populations remains unknown. Materials and Methods. Molecular genetic screening and statistical analysis is applied to evaluate prevalence rates of Wolbachia in sympatric populations of two corn borer species. Individual genomic DNA samples were extracted from last instar larvae collected in nature from different forage plants. For each sample of DNA showing positive signal with insect-specific primers the detection is performed using three diagnostic loci of Wolbachia: 16SrRNA, gatB and fbpA. Results. Wolbachia-positive signal is obtained for 13.5% larvae of Ostrinia nubilalis (N = 141) and 31.9% larvae of Ostrinia scapulalis (N = 138). In different localities the Wolbachia prevalence ranged from 2.9% (N = 34) to 65.8% (N = 38). Significantly higher rates of Wolbachia prevalence in insects from mugwort and hemp (O. scapulalis) as compared to those from corn (O. nubilalis) are revealed in three out of four localities. Conclusions. Endosymbiotic bacteria of the genus Wolbachia are revealed in natural populations of corn borers for the first time for Eastern Europe. The prevalence rates can be high and this should be taken into consideration when reproductive isolation is examined in population of these hosts as well as establishment of laboratory cultures is performed.

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