J. ENTOMOL. SOC. BRIT. COLUMBIA 105, DECEMBER 2008 111

SCIENTIFIC NOTE Podosesia syringae (: ): a new clearwing record for British Columbia

VIRGILIU M . AURELIAN1, M ARIO LANTHIER2 and GARY J.R. JUDD3

Podosesia syringae (Harris), commonly Armstrong, BC. In early 2007 cut sections known as the ash borer, is a clearwing moth of these infested ashes were brought into (Sesiidae) whose larvae are borers within the laboratory and the emerging adults were the trunks of lilac, L., and identified by one of us (VMA) as the ash various ash species, spp. This borer, Podosesia syringae (Harris). native North American (Eichlin and Voucher specimens from BC Duckworth 1988) is considered a major (CNCLEP00041170 & CNCLEP0041171) pest of wild, cultivated and ornamental ash were deposited in the Canadian National trees in eastern provinces and states Collection of , Arachnids and Nema- (Appleby 1973, Solomon 1983). In their todes, Ottawa, ON and confirmed as the ash review of North American Sesiidae, Eichlin borer by J-F. Landry (personal communica- and Duckworth (1988) reported collections tion). of P. syringae from W ashington State and In spring 2007 we surveyed wild and eastern Alberta, but British Columbia (BC) ornamental lilacs surrounding nursery was excluded from their description of its plantings in W estbank, and found evidence western range. Adults of this species occur of larval feeding and pupal exuviae charac- in two distinct colour morphs, a black teristic of the ash borer. In June 2007, morph that has a dark brown abdomen, and Pherocon 1-CP style wing traps (PheroTech a yellow morph that has a light brown ab- Int. Inc., Delta, BC) baited with Clearwing domen surrounded by yellow bands. The Borer lures SC L103 (Scentry Biologicals, two morphs are geographically distinct, the Billings, Montana,USA) containing (Z,Z)-3, yellow morph fraxini being restricted to 13 octadecadienyl acetate, a known clear- W estern North America and the nominate wing male sex attractant and possibly the morph being restricted to Eastern North major component of the female pheromone America (Eichlin and Duckworth 1988). A for this species (Nielsen and Purrington wide hybridization zone exists in the mid- 1978), were deployed in and around six ash W est and the prairies (Eichlin and nursery plantings in W estbank and Arm- Duckworth 1988), suggesting the two ex- strong, BC. In a total of 102 traps deployed treme morphs may be two different subspe- in both regions we captured 325 male P. cies. Future molecular research will be im- syringae adults. No black morphs were portant in elucidating whether a subspecies captured in BC. Superficially, the yellow level is warranted for the ash borer. morph resembles a paper wasp (Polistes In winter of 2006 one of us (ML) dis- spp.) but on a sticky trap it could also be covered many unknown lepidopteran larvae confused with the W estern poplar clear- infesting various three-year-old Fraxinus wing, Paranthrene robinae Hy. Edwards; spp. nursery stock collected from commer- which is native to BC. However, on closer cial tree nurseries located in W estbank and examination P. syringae can be distin-

1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, CW 315 Biological Sciences Building, Ed- monton, AB, T6G 2E9 2 CropHealth Advising and Research, P.O. Box 28098, Kelowna, BC, V1W 4A6 3 Corresponding Author: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, Box 5000, 4200 Highway 97, Summerland, BC, V0H 1Z0. Email: Gary.Judd@ agr.gc.ca

112 J. ENTOMOL. SOC. BRIT. COLUMBIA 105, DECEMBER 2008

Figure 1. Temporal pattern of seasonal catches of male P. syringae adults in sex-attractant baited sticky traps at two locations within the Okanagan Valley, BC, in 2007. guished from P. robinae by the presence of the fall of 2007. Our catches of P. syringae a very long first metatarsal segment and confirmed the presence of this species in distinctive forewing venation. the absence of ash, supporting the view that W eekly trap checks revealed a male local plantings of lilac on residential prop- flight period that lasted six weeks in W est- erties outside the nursery of initial discov- bank with peak flight occurring in the first ery are now a potential source of this insect. half of June (Fig. 1). Further north in Arm- From these results we conclude that P. sy- strong, the flight period was more extended, ringae is established within parts of the ending in the first half of August, but the Okanagan Valley, BC. However, the origi- smaller peak flight occurred about the same nal source of infestation remains unknown. time as it did in W estbank. In eastern North W e thank Larisa Aurelian for help col- America adult flight begins in April and lecting biological specimens. This research ends in July (Neal and Eichlin 1983). In was partially supported with funds from a summer 2008 we redeployed sex-attractant BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands Plant traps around a fallow nursery field from Health Grant held by GJ. which all ash trees had been harvested in

REFERENCES

Appleby, J.E. 1973. Observations on the life history and control of the lilac borer. Journal of Economic Entomology 66: 248-249. Eichlin, T.D. and W .D. Duckworth. 1988. Sesioidea: Sesiidae. In. R.B. Dominick. The of America north of Mexico, fascicle 5.1. W edge Entomological Research Foundation, W ashington, D.C. USA. Neal, J.W . and T.D. Eichlin 1983. Seasonal response of six male Sesiidae of woody ornamentals to clear- wing borer (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) lure. Environmental Entomology 12: 206-209. Nielsen, D.G. and F.F. Purrington. 1978. Field attraction of male Podosesia syringae and P. aureocincta to blends of synthetic compounds. Environmental Entomology 7: 708-710. Solomon, J.D. 1983. Culturing the lilac borer Podosesia syringae, a serious pest of green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica). Journal of the Georgia Entomological Society 18: 300-313.