Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T00:21:59.723Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Biology and host specificity of the chondrilla root moth bradyrrhoa gilveolella (treitschke) (lepidoptera, phycitidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

L. A. Caresche  and
A. J. Wapshere
L. A. Caresche
Affiliation:
CSIRO Biological Control Unit, 335 Avenue Abbé Paul Parguel, 34000–Montpellier, France
A. J. Wapshere
Affiliation:
CSIRO Biological Control Unit, 335 Avenue Abbé Paul Parguel, 34000–Montpellier, France
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The biology and ecology of Bradyrrhoa gilveolella (Treitschke), recently introduced into Australia as a possible biological control agent for the composite Chondrilla juncea, is described for Greece and compared with its known biology in southern Russia. The moth occurs from eastern Europe to southern Russia. In Greece it has two full and possibly a partial third generation each year. Its larvae live in cases below the soil surface and feed on the rootstocks of Chondrilla spp., destroying the thinnest plants. Heavy larval infestations on Chondrilla occur erratically in eastern Greece, being dependent on sites on sandy or very friable soils that are only occasionally disturbed; populations in hotter southern Greece appear to be less stable than those in the cooler northern regions. The larvae are heavily attacked by the fungus Beauveria bassiana as well as by Bracon sp., Copidosoma sp. and Syzeuctus sp. (Hymenoptera) and by the Tachinid Germaria graeca (Br. & Berg.); these cause a total larval and pupal mortality of up to 80%. Host specificity studies, during which the roots of various wild and cultivated composites and 62 cultivated plants were exposed to the moth larvae, showed that only Chondrilla and the closely related genus Taraxacum were attacked. A field survey showed that Taraxacum was not a host under natural conditions. All forms of C. juncea were equally readily attacked by B. gilveolella larvae.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 65 , Issue 2 , June 1975 , pp. 171 - 185
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abazoglou, K. (1968). Meteorological observations of Sindos, 1935–1966.—Epistem. Delt. no. 14.Google Scholar
Amsel, H. G. (1952). Bradyrrhoa gilveolella Tr. In Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Zoologischen Expedition des National-Museums in Prag nach der Türkei. 13. Microlepidoptera.—Sb. ent. Odd. nár. Mus. Praze 28, 413.Google Scholar
Caresche, L. (1973). The specificity and host specialisation of three insects and a mite living on Chondrilla juncea L. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds, Rome, 1971.—Misc. Publs Commonw. Inst. biol. Control no. 6, 127–133.Google Scholar
Caresche, L. A., Hasan, S. & Wapshere, A. J. (1974). Biology and host specificity of two aphids Dactynotus chondrillae (Nevsk.) and Chondrillobium blattnyi Pintera (Hemiptera) living on Chondrilla juncea.—Bull. ent. Res. 64, 277–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caresche, L. A. & Wapshere, A. J. (1974). Biology and host specificity of the Chondrilla gall mite Aceria chondrillae (G. Can.) (Acarina, Eriophyidae).—Bull. ent. Res. 64, 183–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caresche, L. A. & Wapshere, A. J. (1975). The Chondrilla gall midge Cystiphora schmidti (Rübsaamen) (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae). II. Biology and host specificity.—Bull. ent. Res. 65, 55–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dirsh, V. (1933). Schädlinge der kautschukerzeugenden Pflanzen in der Ukraine.—Zh. bio.-zool. Tykla, Kyev no. 4, 41–57. [In Russian].Google Scholar
Harris, P. & Zwölfer, H. (1968). Screening of phytophagous insects for biological control of weeds.—Can. Ent. 100, 295–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasan, S. (1972). Specificity and host specialization of Puccinia chondrillina.—Ann. appl. Biol. 72, 257–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hull, V. J. & Groves, R. H. (1968). Report on biological control of Chondrilla juncea. Botanical investigations. 1966–68. Append. I. Variation in Chondrilla juncea in Australia, Canberra, CSIRO Division of Plant Industry.Google Scholar
Klimesch, J. (1968). In Die Lepidopterenfauna Mazedoniens, IV. Microlepidoptera.—Posebno Izd. prirod. Muz. Skopje, no. 5, 45–46.Google Scholar
Kozulina, O. V. & Rudakova, K. V. (1932). The biology of the rubber-moth, Bradyrrhoa gilveolella Tr.—Trudy nauchno-issled. Inst. Prom. no. 502, 28–46. [In Russian].Google Scholar
Kyriazopoulos, B. (1946–1958). Observations metéorologiques de Thessaloniki.—Annu. Inst. met. clim., Univ. Thessaloniki, no. 1-25.Google Scholar
Lattin, G. De (1951). In Türkische Lepidoptera. II.—Istanb. Üniv. Fen Fak. Mecm. Ser. B 16, 63.Google Scholar
L'homme, L. (1935). In Catalogue des Lépidoptères de France et de Belgique.—Vol. II, 45–46. Le Carriol, The Author.Google Scholar
Livadas, G. C. (1959–1965). Observations metéorologiques de Thessaloniki.—Annu. Inst. met. clim., Univ. Thessaloniki, no. 26-33.Google Scholar
Mariani, M. (1939). In Fauna Lepidopterorum Siciliae.—Memorie Soc. ent. Ital. 17, 162.Google Scholar
Pravdin, F. N. (1957). Regularities in the formation of new complexes of harmful and useful insects on the introduction to cultivation of plants of the family Compositae.— Scientific Notes, Tome C, Dept. Zoology and Darwinism, Nat. Teach. Inst. 5, 1–190. Moscow.Google Scholar
Popescu-Gorj, A. (1960). Phycitidae. In Lépidoptères nouveaux ou rares pour la faune de la Republique Populaire Roumaine.—Trav. Mus. Hist. nat. Gr. Antipa 2, 267–278.Google Scholar
Rebel, H. (1931). Pyralidae. In Lepidopteren aus der Umgebung Ankaras.—Annln Naturh. Mus. Wien 46, 13.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, O. (1912). Über die Apogamie bei Chondrilla juncea.—Svensk. Bot. Tidskr. 6, 915–919.Google Scholar
Sakharov, N. (1930). Insects taking part in the formation of caoutchouc on Chondrilla ambigua Fisch.—Zh. opȳt. Agron. Yugovost. 8, 367–372.Google Scholar
Treitschke, F. (1832). Phycitinae. In Die Schmetterlinge von Europa. Bd. 9.—p. 271. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Wapshere, A. J. (1973 a). Recent work on the assessment of the biological control potential of the Chondrilla juncea organisms. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds, Rome, 1971.—Misc. Publs Commonw. Inst. Biol. Control no. 6, 151–160.Google Scholar
Wapshere, A. J. (1973 b). A comparison of strategies for screening biological control organisms for weeds. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium Biological Control of Weeds, Rome, 1971.—Misc. Publs Commonw. Inst. biol. Control no. 6, 95–102.Google Scholar