Western Plant Diagnostic Network Newsletter

WPDN – First Detector Dear WPDN First Detectors, Network News Invasive species are increasing in frequency and in their ability to cause damage or completely destroy The newsletter for the agricultural crops, horticultural plants, forest species, and WPDN native species, and to disrupt the ecology of waterways. First Detector Community An email newsletter from the USDA National Invasive

Species Information Center can be subscribed to at this April 2009 site: Volume 2, Number 2 National Invasive Species Information Center - What's Contact us at the WPDN New Regional Center: A very comprehensive website for all invasive species in Phone: 530 754 2255 the United States from the University of Georgia’s Fax: 530 754 7998 Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health, in Email: cooperation with the USDA and USFS is: [email protected] http://www.invasive.org/ Websites: https://www.wpdn.org

https://www.npdn.org Pest Alerts for the WPDN region can be found on the Western Integrated Pest Management (IPM) site at: Published by the WPDN Regional Center http://www.wrpmc.ucdavis.edu/alerts/index.html Department of Plant Pathology

University of California, Davis and at our own website Editor: Richard W. Hoenisch ©Copyright Regents of the University https://www.wpdn.org of California All Rights Reserved These articles and pest alerts can be printed and used for invasive pest information for your group or organization.

Also, pass along the website links to your associates.

The Asian Longhorned (ALB)

Image courtesy of NY State

The Asian Longhorned Beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis, is a beetle native to China and Korea. The adult female ALB lays her eggs in the outer surface of the tree, in the cambium. The ALB larvae which develop bore deeply into healthy deciduous hardwood trees such as maple, box elder, birch, horse chestnut, poplar, willow, elm, hackberry, sycamore, mimosa, and ash, eventually killing them. The impact on western US and Pacific Islands’ native species is unknown. Wikipedia provides a very good article on the ecology, invasiveness, and spread of the ALB: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_long- horned_beetle In pest identification, it is always important to know the “look alikes,” species that may be similar in shape, size, or color. The University of Vermont provides this site with look alikes of the ALB: http://www.uvm.edu/albeetle/identification/index.html The ALB has been most recently found in the area around Worchester MA. A very serious eradication program is taking place in this and other regions. http://www.ci.worcester.ma.us/cmo/pdf/ALBBusinessNotice.pdf Pest alerts, PowerPoint presentations, and other information can be found at the USDA Forest Service site: http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/palerts/alb/alb_pa.pdf and at the Western Integrated Pest Management (Western IPM) at: http://www.wrpmc.ucdavis.edu/alerts/alb.html

If you find a beetle that you suspect is an ALB, collect it and immediately report it to your local county agricultural commissioner’s office, county agent, state department of agriculture, or the USDA. If keeping the sample overnight, it is recommended that one put the ALB in a plastic or glass container and put it in the freezer overnight. Please include all pertinent information, including your name and contact info, the exact place and date where it was found, and on which plant. The ALB is not yet established in the WPDN area. We2 need to be vigilant to keep it out of our forested areas and landscapes.

WPDN State Updates

A beneficial introduced into AK and working!

Michele Hebert from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, reports that the snout beetle,

Coleoptera: , antirrhini, has been positively identified on Linaria vulgaris in the Anchorage, Alaska area. The finding utilized the WPDN First Detector system. This well known bio-control agent has been listed as a possible management tool in the Alaska Natural Heritage Program, non-native plants of Alaska website. A write up on the weevil can be found at the Cornell University website: http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/weedfeeders/gymnetron_antirrhini.html

It is notable that this beetle was able to prevent 80% of seed production for toadflax species. As far as we know, this is the first occurrence of this beetle in Alaska. This beetle has been sighted on toadflax plants over the last couple of years, and this summer certain toadflax infestations were completely covered by these weevils.

Dalmatian toadflax infestation adult. W.Hartung, NRCS R.Richard, USDA-APHIS

Landscape Disease Problems in Hawai‘i Professor Scot Nelson Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences University of Hawaii at Manoa

Dr. Scot Nelson publishes Hawaii Plant Disease, a series of online bulletins about plant diseases that affect farms, nurseries, gardens, landscapes and forests in Hawaii. You are welcome to subscribe to this free online bulletin at: Subscribe to Hawaii Plant Disease!

A seven page articles on Landscape Disease Problems in Hawai’i can be found at: http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/PD-67.pdf

3 Aloha!