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1 Emerald ash borer Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) is an invasive forest insect pest threatening more than 8 billion ash (Fraxinus spp.) trees in North America. Development of effective survey methods and strategies to slow the spread of A. planipennis requires an understanding of dispersal, particularly in recently established satellite populations. 2 We assessed the dispersal of A. planipennis beetles over a single generation at two sites by intensively sampling ash trees at known distances from infested ash logs, the point source of the infestations. Larval density was recorded from more than 100 trees at each site. 3 Density of A. planipennis larvae by distance for one site was fit to the Ricker function, inverse power function, and the negative exponential function using a maximum likelihood approach. The prediction of the best model, a negative exponential function, was compared with the results from both sites. 4 The present study demonstrates that larval densities rapidly declined with distance, and that most larvae (88.9 and 90.3%) were on trees within 100 m of the emergence point of the adults at each site. The larval distribution pattern observed at both sites was adequately described by the negative exponential function.

Hybridization leading to reproductively isolated, novel genotypes is poorly understood as a means of speciation and few empirical examples have been studied. In 1999, a previously non-existent delayed flight of what appeared to be the Canadian tiger swallowtail butterfly, Papilio canadensis, was observed in the Battenkill River Valley, USA. Allozyme frequencies and morphology suggest that this delayed flight was the product of hybridization between Papilio canadensis and its sibling species Papilio glaucus. The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction fragment length polymorphisms presented here indicate that only P. canadensis-like mtDNA occurs in this population, suggesting that introgression likely occurred from hybrid males mating with P. canadensis females. Preliminary studies of this population indicated that delayed post-diapause pupal emergence in this hybrid genotype was the root cause behind the observed delayed flight, which suggests a potential empirical example of a mechanism leading to reproductive isolation. Here we provide further evidence of the role of adult pupal emergence as a reproductive barrier likely leading to reproductive isolation. In particular, we present results from pupal emergence studies using four different spring and two different winter temperature treatments. The results indicate a clear separation of adult emergences between the hybrid population and both parental species. However, our results indicate that exceptionally hot springs are likely to lead to greater potential for overlap between the local parental species, P. canadensis, and this delayed population with hybrid origins. Conversely, our results also show that warmer winters are likely to increase the temporal separation of the hybrid population and the parental species. Finally, we report recently collected evidence that this hybrid population remains morphologically distinct.

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