Invasive Gall Wasp (Leptocybe Invasa) in Eucalypt and Its Management
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346 16 Invasive Gall Wasp (Leptocybe invasa) in Eucalypt and Its Management A.S. Vastrad and S.H. Ramanagouda 1. Introduction Eucalypt species are an important source of short fibre pulp for the production of high-quality paper. The trees having rapid growth rate and short rotation times, can be grown in coppiced production and are extraordinarily well suited for large-scale plantation in diverse parts of the world. As the area of plantation under eucalypts has increased worldwide, so has the number of insects utilizing them as host. Many of these insects now pose biosecurity threats to eucalypts in regions where they are grown as exotics. Large-scale plantings of eucalypts for a variety of purposes have occurred throughout Asia, from India to Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and China. Asia has had very few introductions of Australian insects, but large numbers of endemic insects utilize eucalypts as hosts (Sen-Sarma and Thakur, 1983). This appears to be a common theme throughout Southeast Asia where eucalypts have been grown. Invasive gall wasp, Leptocybe invasa La Salle and Fisher is the only insect of Australian origin to have been introduced in to South and Southeast Asia and to have caused significant damage with introductions occurring between 2002 and 2007. First reported from Middle East during 2000, the gall wasp wreaked havoc on eucalypt plantations throughout the world (Aytar, 2003; Mutitu, 2003; Mendel et al., 2004; Nyeko, 2005; Neser et al., 2007; Costa et al., 2008; Gaskill et al., 2009; Dhahri et al., 2010; Karunaratne et al., 2010; Aquino et al., 2011). An unconfirmed news item reported its first occurrence in India from Karnataka during 2001 (EF, 2007). However, its definitive invasion was first reported during 2004 from Tamil Nadu which subsequently spread to the neighboring states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala (Jacob et al., 2007), Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat (Kumar et al., 2007), Madhya Pradesh (ICFRE, 2007). Since 2009, it has spread to northern India and is causing heavy loss to nursery and plantations in Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh (FRI, Dehradun). Severe incidence of the pest both in nurseries and plantations in Invasive gall wasp (Leptocybe invasa) in eucalypt... 347 Orissa and on new shoots of grown up plants in Jammu and Kashmir has been observed during 2011 (Fig. 1). The pest causes galls on midribs, petioles and stems of new shoots of eucalypt. Heavy infestation leads to deformed leaves, shoots and reduction in growth. Infested seedlings become unfit for planting (Fig. 2). In Karnataka, the gall wasp was reported to be on an attacking spree and damaged 2.5 M eucalypt saplings in the Fig 1. Distribution of L. invasa in India. 348 A.S. Vastrad and S.H. Ramanagouda Fig. 2. Gall wasp damage in nursery (above) and plantation (below). nurseries of two major wood based industries (West Coast Paper Mills and Harihara Polyfibres) (EF, 2007). Three lakh grown up trees were severely affected by L. invasa in Punjab. Since its wide spread outbreak during 2007, work carried out at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad on various aspects of invasive gall wasp is presented below. 2. Biology Biology of the eucalypt gall wasp, L. invasa was studied during winter and summer of 2009-10 (Fig. 3 a to f). During summer season, the symptoms of tissue disruption (Stage I) were first evident within 10 days while it took 10-15 days during winter and occupied 8.66 and 12.0 days during the respective season. The characteristic bump shaped green colored, II stage galls lasted for 45.0 and 57.4 days during summer and winter season, respectively. Stage III galls characterized by glossy pink color lasted for 29.6 and 30.2 days during summer and winter season. While the stage IV galls characterized by dull pink color occupied 20.7 days during summer and 18.8 days during winter. Stage V galls were noticed three to six days after stage IV during summer and four to six days during winter season. Total life cycle of the pest occupied 100-115 (mean 109 days) days during summer and 100-143 (mean 123.6 days) days during winter (Table 1). Adult longevity was 4.3 days without food while those fed Invasive gall wasp (Leptocybe invasa) in eucalypt... 349 a. Oviposition on young leaf d. Gall development b. Oozing after oviposition e. Adult emergence c. Tissue disruption f. Emergence hole Fig. 3. Sequence of gall development (a-f). 350 A.S. Vastrad and S.H. Ramanagouda Table 1. Biology of Eucalyptus gall wasp, L. invasa on E. tereticornis Developmental Range (d) Mean ± SD (d) stage Winter 2009 Summer 2010 Winter 2009 Summer 2010 Stage I 10-15 8-9 13.00±1.87 8.66±0.47 Stage II 34-89 40-46 54.75±5.49 45.00±3.74 Stage III 31-40 29-32 31.00±3.80 29.66±2.05 Stage IV 18-30 19-22 19.50±4.15 20.66±1.88 Stage V 3-9 4-6 5.00±0.70 5.00±1.41 Total 100-143 100-115 123.6±15.37 109.00±6.48 Source: Ramanagouda et al. (2010). on 10 per cent honey solution lived for 5.7 days. These results are in agreement with Mendel et al. (2004) who reported that the mean developmental time from egg to adult emergence as 132.6 days at room temperature. According to Hesami et al. (2005), the developmental period of L. invasa was 126.2 and 138.3 days under laboratory and field conditions, respectively. 3. Seasonal Incidence During survey 30 cm shoot from 10 infested eucalypt plants were collected and the observations on different gall stage were recorded separately from top, middle and bottom portion of the sample (10 cm each) monthly. Sample was kept separately (top, middle and bottom) for pest and parasitoid emergence in a pin holed polythene bags. Adult emergence of the pest and parasitoids was recorded daily till the cessation of adult emergence. Different parasitoids emerging from these samples were identified by Dr. T.C. Narendran, Trust for Insect Taxonomy, University of Calicut, Kerala. Mean and standard deviation was calculated and per cent parasitization was worked out by using the following formula (Kim et al., 2008). No. of parasitoid adults emerged Per cent parasitization = —————————————————— X 100 Total no. of adults (gall wasps + parasitoids) 3.1. Kulwalli Plantation (2008-09) Studies on seasonal incidence indicated that the pest and its parasitoids were active throughout the year. Gall incidence (top, middle and bottom) indicated an equal number of galls of second, third, fourth and fifth stage (7.8, 7.2, 7.8 and 7.3, respectively) while the number of first stage galls was lowest (4.3). This is understandable since the total surface area available for oviposition is considerably Invasive gall wasp (Leptocybe invasa) in eucalypt... 351 less compared to those which are either unsuitable for oviposition or were occupied by galls of later stages. Irrespective of the gall stages, total number of galls ranged from a lowest of 19.2 (November 2008) to highest of 44.1 (June 2009). During remaining months total number of galls ranged from 29.3 (January 2009) to 40.3 (December 2008). Galls of all stages were recorded throughout the year (Fig. 4). However, according to Mendel et al. (2004), after over wintering as third or fourth stage from October to March, though new growth appeared in February, wasps started emerging and resumed oviposition only in April. Adult emergence was noticed throughout the year. Three peak periods of adult emergence was noticed during December 2008 (133), April 2009 (111) and June 2009 (88) separated by about 120 days. Adult emergence during remaining months ranged from 30 (September 2008) to 95 (January 2009). Though only females emerged from the galls and started laying eggs indicating thelytokous reproduction, a small number of males were regularly encountered which could be easily identified by the absence of characteristic ovipositor and distinctly hairy antennae. During the survey to document the seasonal incidence and natural enemies of the pest, several hymenopteran parasitoids emerged from the infested eucalypts samples collected during October 2008. These include Aprostocetus gala Walker and Aprostocetus sp. (Eulophidae), Megastigmus sp. (Torymidae) and Parallelaptera sp (Mymaridae) (Vastrad et al., 2010). Among the different parasitoids, Megastigmus sp. was the most dominant (90.7 %) followed by Aprostocetus sp. (6.5 %) and A. gala (2.72 %). Among several hundred parasitoids collected, one specimen each belonged to Telenomus sp. and Parallelaptera sp. Combined parasitization ranged from 49 per cent to 74 per cent on severely infested early stage galls (2nd and 3rd). However, no parasitoids emerged from the fresh galls (1st stage), low or moderately Number Fig. 4. Gall incidence, adult emergence and per cent parasitization (Kulwalli, 2008-09). 352 A.S. Vastrad and S.H. Ramanagouda infested coppice and nursery seedlings. Megastigmus sp. was later described as M. dharwadicus Narendran and Vastrad (Narendran et al., 2010). 3.2. Daddikamalapur Plantation (2009-10) Gall incidence indicated that the samples contained more of first stage galls (11.8) followed by third, fourth and fifth stage. Emergence of M. dharwadicus was noticed throughout the year except November and April and accounted for a maximum of 30.7 per cent and minimum of 6.5 per cent parasitization and emergence of A. gala was maximum (26) and minimum (01) and accounted for a maximum of 15.9 per cent and minimum of 0.6 per cent parasitization. Adult emergence was noticed throughout the year and was maximum during July (348) and minimum (63) during March and increased thereafter (Fig.