Preventing invasions of Asian longhorn beetle and citrus longhorn beetle: are we on the right track?

Abstract

Two Asian longhorn beetles, Anoplophora glabripennis and Anoplophora chinensis are among the most serious alien invasive species attacking forest and urban trees, both in North America and Europe. Major efforts have been put into preventing further entry and establishment of the two species as well as promoting their successful eradication. Here we review these efforts, their progress and outcome, and scientific advancements in monitoring and control methods. The combined international activities and harmonizing legislative changes in detection and eradication methods have proven worthwhile, with more than 45% of eradication programmes successful in the last 12 years. Some countries were able to completely eradicate all populations and others managed to reduce the area affected. Although the costs of the eradication programmes can be very high, the benefits outweigh inaction. Attempts to eradicate A. chinensis have been more challenging in comparison with those targeting A. glabripennis. For both species, efforts are hampered by the ongoing arrival of new beetles, both from their native regions in Asia and from other invaded regions via bridgehead effects. The methods used for eradication have not changed much during the last decade, and host removal is still the method most commonly used. On the other hand, detection methods have diversified during the last decade with advances in semiochemical research and use of detection dogs. The next decade will determine if eradications continue to be successful, particularly in the case of A. chinesis, which has been targeted in some countries for containment instead of eradication.

Hybridization Potential of Two Invasive Asian Longhorn Beetles

“…The Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) Anoplophora glabripennis Motschulsky and the citrus longhorned beetle A. chinensis Förster (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae), are among the highest risk invasive forest pests worldwide [10]. Native to China and the Korean Peninsula [11,12], invasive ALB populations were reported for the first time in the US in 1996, in Europe in 2001, and in Canada in 2003, and are still present across Europe and in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and South Carolina in the US despite extensive eradication efforts [13][14][15][16]. Genetic analyses suggest multiple introduction events of ALB from China and continuous secondary spread within the invaded area in Europe or the US [17][18][19][20].…”

“…Anoplophora chinensis has been detected in more than 11 European countries since it was first detected in 2000 in Italy [12,23]. Currently, invasive A. chinensis populations are still present in Croatia, France, Italy, and Turkey [14,16,23]. Both A. chinensis and A. malasiaca seem to have invaded northern Italy [24].…”

Successful Eradication of the Asian Longhorn Beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis, from North-Eastern Italy: Protocol, Techniques and Results

“…Of all the actions undertaken, those that proved the most effective were visual survey of susceptible trees (in order to find signs of infestation) and the felling and destruction of all the infested trees and nearby ones (in order to prevent the diffusion of the pest). Additionally, the destruction of felled trees by chipping is a very useful practice in order to kill all the larvae present inside the wood, as demonstrated by the wood chip analyses conducted by the University of Padua and already reported in other works [57,70]. On the other hand, the use of pheromone traps proved useless, as was also the case during the eradication in Paddock Wood [43].…”

“…Despite the use of A. glabripennis pheromones remaining indicated for pest interception in areas where it is not yet been detected [56], our results corroborate the hypothesis that the attraction of pheromones is not strong enough to be used for active eradication actions by mass-trapping, and probably not even for reliable monitoring. The low effectiveness of pheromone-based trapping techniques is probably due to the fact that they mainly attract virgin females and, at close range, females also used other visual and chemical stimuli which require further study [57].…”

Climate change effects on the global distribution and range shifts of citrus longhorned beetle Anoplophora chinensis

“…Owing to the severe damage CLB does to forested areas, in 2020, the pest was included on the A1 and A2 lists of pests recommended for quarantine by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) and was also considered one of the five most harmful invasive alien species in Europe (Nentwig & Vaes‐Petignat, 2014). Reports of CLB infestations were found to increase with increasing import quantities of its primary hosts, and regulation (EU) 2016/2031 was thus implemented since 2019 to protect against plant pests, banning the imports of plants and products of high risk from countries outside of the EU (Branco et al, 2022). In Europe, the high cost of CLB eradication efforts has been in vain in many regions since the ongoing arrival of other invasive pests and simple measures of host removal.…”