Host-use pattern of the ragweed beetle Ophraella communa LeSage (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) for overwintering and reproduction in Tsukuba

Abstract

Host-use pattern for overwintering and reproduction of the ragweed beetle, Ophraella communa LeSage, was examined in Tsukuba, Japan. Many adults of both sexes were found overwintering inside the rolled parts of dead leaves of Xanthium canadense in November. These adults had already accumulated triacylglycerol as energy reserves, and were able to survive the winter and to reproduce in the spring. No eggs and larvae were found on X. canadense throughout the observation period, although overwintered adults were temporarily found in May. In contrast, reproduction occurs on Ambrosia artemisiifolia and A. trifida in late April. These results suggest that O. communa adults mainly use dead leaves of X. canadense as an overwintering shelter in Tsukuba, while they reproduce only on A. artemisiifolia and A. trifida in the spring. Such a seasonal migration between host plants may be important for the survival strategy.

Ambrosia artemisiifolia control in agricultural areas: effect of grassland seeding and herbivory by the exotic leaf beetle Ophraella communa

“…pl. ; Palmer and Goeden 1991, Tamura et al 2004, Watanabe and Hirai 2004, Yamanaka et al 2007, Cao et al 2011. On the other 7 plant species sampled, no beetle was detected (Lolium sp.…”

“…As for O. communa, the insect was reported on plant species different from A. artemisiifolia, such as other ragweed taxa and relatives mainly belonging to the tribe of Heliantheae (Tamura et al 2004, Watanabe and Hirai 2004, Yamanaka et al 2007, Cao et al 2011, Müller-Schärer et al 2014. Risk assessments of O. communa's attack on the cultivated sunflower H. annuus gave controversial results.…”

“…Palmer and Goeden (1991) rejected the beetle as a biocontroller for Australia because, in laboratory tests, it can complete its life cycle on sunflower while, recently, the possibility of an Ophraella's attack on H. annuus in the field was considered negligible (Dernovici et al 2006, Cao et al 2011. Most of the studies on the potential ability of O. communa to choose new host plants in introduced areas were conducted on weeds or species of commercial interest (Palmer and Goeden 1991, Watanabe and Hirai 2004, Dernovici et al 2006, Cao et al 2011, Lommen et al 2017b. The risk to native flora was rarely taken into account.…”

Seasonal abundance of exotic leaf beetle Orphraella communa LeSage (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) on two different host plants

“…A. artemisiifolia and A. psilostachya are host plants of the ragweed beetle Ophraella communa in North America, the original distribution area (Futuyma, 1990;Palmer and Goeden, 1991;Funk and Futuyma, 1995), but there are no reports of the ragweed beetle using A. trifida as a host plant in North America. On the other hand, the ragweed beetle uses A. artemisiifolia and A. trifida in the newly-invaded East Asian areas, including Japan (Takizawa et al, 1999;Yamazaki et al, 2000;Moriya and Shiyake, 2001;Watanabe and Hirai, 2004) and China (LiJie et al, 2005). This suggests that the beetle might already have had the ability to feed on this plant species when it invaded in Japan and throughout East Asia, or suggests an adaptive change in the host use character of this beetle in recently invaded areas, namely an intriguing adaptation to a newly-invaded territory.…”

“…Several studies have been made of various aspects of the ragweed beetle's life history, such as its development (Emura, 1999;Moriya, 1999), photoperiodic response (Watanabe, 2000), host plant use (Emura, 2000;Yamazaki et al, 2000;Tamura et al, 2004), spatial interaction with the host plant (Yamanaka et al, 2007), natural enemies (Moriya et al, 2002), overwintering sites (Kawakami and Kato, 2002;Watanabe and Hirai, 2004), dispersal distance (Yamamura et al, 2007), and flight activity (Tanaka, 2009;Tanaka and Yamanaka, 2009); however, the seasonal abundance of this beetle on different host plants and/or populations, which is key basic information on adaptation in a newly invaded area, has not been studied. To date, the seasonal occurrence of O. communa on A. artemisiiforia has been roughly investigated (Yamanaka et al, 2007), but detailed investigations of seasonal abundance and a comparison of seasonal abundance on different host plants have not been reported.…”