Recent invasions of insect pests of wheat and sorghum

Abstract

This chapter provides general description of the invasion and management response of six insects that have affected wheat and other cereal grains: Agriphila aeneociliella Eversmann (Lepid: Crambidae), Metopolophium festucae cerealium Stroyan (Hem: Aphididae), Cephus cinctus Norton (Hymen: Cephidae) (wheat stem sawfly), Sipha maydis Passerini (Hem: Aphididae), Diuraphis noxia (Kurdjuimov) (Hemi: Aphididae) (Russian wheat aphid), and Melanaphis sorghi Theobold (Hemi: Aphididae) (sugarcane aphid). A more detailed case study follows: the recent invasion of M. sorghi across the sorghum agroecosystem of North America. This near continent-scale invasion provides perspectives on invasion progression (both ecology and management) across ecological and agricultural gradients, and on management response appropriate at local and regional scales in the context of environmental (landscape and weather) factors that influence pest-natural enemy-plant interactions. The chapter concludes with a discussion of future trends in light of climate change and lessons learned from these recent insect pest invasions.