A new host plant for Cameraria ohridella Deschka & Dimić, 1986 (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) in Volga region

Abstract

Six years have passed since, in 2018, an invasive species from Europe – the Ohrid miner Cameraria ohridella (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) penetrated into the Lower and Middle Volga region and began to actively populate urban landscapes planted with horse chestnut. Using the example of the regional center of Saratov, the temporary aspects of settlement and damage to horse chestnut trees over the specified period are considered. As a result of the settlement of the species and the annual increase in its population density, the degree of damage to the leaves of horse chestnut in parks and alleys of the regional center – showed a massive drying and leaf fall in Aesculus hippocastanum in early August 2023. The total output of the imago of the 3rd generation of the occupier completed the process of withering and shrinking of the trees by switching to another type of urban tree – walnut. This is the first case of such a choice of a new host object for this type of invader in the Volga region.