Biology, Ecology, and Control of Elaterid Beetles in Agricultural Land

Abstract

Wireworms, the larvae of click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae), have had a centuries-long role as major soil insect pests worldwide. With insecticidal control options dwindling, research on click beetle biology and ecology is of increasing importance in the development of new control tactics. Methodological improvements have deepened our understanding of how larvae and adults spatially and temporarily utilize agricultural habitats and interact with their environment. This progress, however, rests with a few pest species, and efforts to obtain comparable knowledge on other economically important elaterids are crucial. There are still considerable gaps in our understanding of female and larval ecology; movement of elaterids within landscapes; and the impact of natural enemies, cultivation practices, and environmental change on elaterid population dynamics. This knowledge will allow generation of multifaceted control strategies, including cultural, physical, and chemical measures, tailored toward species complexes and crops across a range of appropriate spatial scales.

The Distribution of Soil Insects across Three Spatial Scales in Agricultural Grassland

“…While the populations of Lepidopteran larvae are known to be generally low in grassland ecosystems (Curry, 1994), this is a surprising result for Elateridae. Elaterid larvae (wireworms) are traditionally associated with grassland soil in the UK and Europe (Traugott et al, 2015), and adult male pheromone trapping in previous and subsequent years on nearby areas at the North Wyke site suggests that adults at least are present in grass fields (C. Benefer, unpublished data). However, as for the closely related Tipulid species described above, species-specific differences in dispersal ability/oviposition preferences may also be the case for Agriotes click beetles and wireworms (the most common agricultural species in the UK and Europe).…”

A Red List of Italian Saproxylic Beetles: taxonomic overview, ecological features and conservation issues (Coleoptera)

“…This is not surprising because Staphylinidae and Melyridae are typically predaceous beetles and it is also known that many Elateridae living in dead wood have predaceous larvae (Stokland et al 2012;Traugott et al 2015). Yet this result stresses the incidence of considering predaceous beetles in studies dealing with saproxylic insects.…”

Preventive application of an entomopathogenic fungus in cover crops for wireworm control

“…Therefore, an application of FCBKs into the cover crop several months before planting of potatoes in the main season should provide for an extended exposure period of the pest insects to the fungus. Wireworms typically show seasonal migration between upper and lower soil layers, depending on their moulting and feeding cycles, but also on environmental conditions in upper soil layers (reviewed in Traugott et al 2015). The combination of these factors results in two activity ''peaks'' of many semivoltine wireworm species in the northern hemisphere, during which they are more frequently found in the topsoil near the soil surface.…”

“…They feed on the roots, shoots, tubers and bulbs of many arable and vegetable crops, including maize and other cereals, potatoes and carrots (reviewed in Parker and Howard 2001;Ritter and Richter 2013;Traugott et al 2015). In many of these crops, wireworms are not necessarily the most destructive insects, but are among the most difficult to control, particularly because of their long life cycle and overlapping generations, their polyphagous nature and their adaption to a wide range of agricultural ecosystems, including grassland and arable crops (Furlan 1998;Ritter and Richter 2013;Sonnemann et al 2014;Sufyan et al 2014;Traugott et al 2013Traugott et al , 2015. Wireworms are also able to react quickly to changes in abiotic conditions with vertical migration to depths of 50 cm or more (Fisher et al 1975;Furlan 1998Furlan , 2004Schaerffenberg 1942).…”

“…Chemical control of wireworms has been most successful with persistent insecticides, like organochlorines, organophosphates, carbamates and phenylpyrazols (reviewed in Barsics et al 2013;Traugott et al 2015;Vernon and van Herk 2013), some of which provide sufficient control for several seasons after a single application (Vernon et al 2009(Vernon et al , 2013. As a result, the preventive application of cereal seeds coated with phenylpyrazol became widely adapted in some European countries, the goal being to reduce wireworm populations and the risk of damage in subsequent sensitive crops like potatoes (Jossi 2001).…”