Spread of the ragweed leaf beetle, Ophraella communa LeSage, 1986 (Coleoptera Chrysomelidae), in Piedmont Region (northwestern Italy)

Abstract

Common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., one of the most dangerous invasive species for its high allergenic pollen production, has been spreading in Europe since the 19th century but has not until now recruited any effective natural enemy. In its native range, North america, many insects and fungi are recorded feeding or developing on this weed, reducing common ragweed impact on human health and habitats. Some of these organisms, specific or oligophagous on A. artemisiifolia, are considered promising agents for the biological control of this weed, and in some cases they have already been introduced in other continents. Among these species, the leaf beetle Ophraella communa LeSage (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) was found at the beginning of august 2013 attacking common ragweed near a nursery in Galliate (Novara province - piedmont Region). Field surveys were carried out from august to November in various piedmont counties to document the spread of this recently introduced galerucine species. Data are reported regarding the leaf beetle’s morphology, biological cycle, spread, hosts and natural enemies in the new range. Prospects for the biological control of common ragweed in Europe are also discussed.

Investigating the Current and Future Co-Occurrence of Ambrosia artemisiifolia and Ophraella communa in Europe through Ecological Modelling and Remote Sensing Data Analysis

“…We performed latitudinal corrections to take into account the phenology of the crops more sensitive to the invasion of A. artemisiifolia [23,24,25]; the image collections were mediated and merged in a time interval ranging from April to October [77]. A false color composite (cloud free) for all of Europe consisting of SWIR wavelengths (2202.4 nm for S2A and 2185.7 nm for S2B), NIR wavelengths (835.1 nm for S2A and 833 nm for S2B), and BLUE wavelengths (496.6 nm for S2A and 492.1 nm for S2B) was created to set a pixel-value threshold used for the identification of agricultural patches through the classification method mentioned above.…”

“…Data were further refined by intersecting the above-mentioned dataset with the global food security-support analysis data at a 1-km spatial resolution (GFSAD1 km) [78], which contains the spatial distribution of the five main types of global farmlands (wheat, rice, corn, barley, and soy). Based on bibliographical information [23,24,25], we selected the agricultural classes preferred for A. artemisiifolia ’s spread (classes 2 and 4 of the GFSAD1 km). From now on, these areas will be named ‘target-croplands’.…”

“…One of the most studied IAS is the common ragweed Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., an invasive plant from North America, which is known to be in Europe since the 19th century. It rapidly expanded and has become a weed of great importance in cultivated lands, mainly soybean, sunflower, maize, and sugar beet [23,24,25]. Common ragweed is also known for its high allergenicity, with several socio-economic consequences [26,27], and considerable effort has been dedicated to its control or even eradication [28,29,30,31,32,33].…”

Assessing the risks of non-target feeding by the accidentally introduced ragweed leaf beetle, Ophraella communa, to native European plant species

“…Ophraella communa is a multivoltine, oligophagous herbivore which can achieve up to seven generations per year in its introduced range in southern China (Zhou et al, 2014) and up to four generations in Europe (Mouttet et al, 2018). The leaf beetle overwinters in the adult stage and, in Europe, the first eggs are found in spring as soon as A. artemisiifolia seedlings emerge (Bosio et al, 2014). The females lay eggs in batches of 10-60 eggs, and the three larval stages and the highly mobile adults feed on the green parts of their host plant (Müller-Schärer et al, 2014).…”

Rapid evolution of photoperiodic response in a recently introduced insect Ophraella communa along geographic gradients

“…), in China in 2001 (Shiyake & Moriya ) and in Italy and Switzerland in 2013 (Bosio et al . ; Müller‐Schärer et al . ).…”