Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Wooster, Ohio » Application Technology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #85252
Title: AUTODISSEMINATION OF ENTOMOPATHOGENIC FUNGI INTO A POPULATION OF JAPANESE BEETLES, MERAMEC STATE PARK, SULLIVAN, MISSOURI, 1996

Author
item GRUNDLER, J - MISSOURI DEPT AGRIC
item Klein, Michael

Submitted to: Entomological Society of America Miscellaneous Publications
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/19/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The Japanese beetle is a serious pest, both as an adult and a larvae, throughout much of the United States east of the Mississippi River. In the past 25 years, beetle populations have intensified west of the Mississippi, and in distant locations such as the Azore Islands. While Japanese beetles are expanding their range, the availability of conventional insecticides has been decreasing. This combination of events makes biological suppression an attractive alternative. We are developing the use of autodissemination of a fungal pathogen in which adult beetles are lured to traps, coated with the fungus, and subsequently transfer the fungus to larval feeding sites. Tests in Missouri have shown that the trap/fungus combination causes increased mortality of adults, and that greater numbers of adults are carrying the fungus. A demonstration of successful use of this method will provide a biological alternative to present insecticides for suppression of Japanese beetle populations. Population density and any increase in the incidence of mortality to the larvae caused by the fungus will be examined during the next beetle season.

Technical Abstract: During the past ten years, the Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, has been found in Meramec State Park in Missouri. Since conventional pesticides can not be used within the State Park, alternative means of beetle control are needed. Forty Japanese beetle traps, modified for the autodissemination of fthe fungus Metarhizium anisopliae, were placed in the Park campground during 1966. Increased mortality of adult beetles, as well as greater numbers of beetles with fungal spores, were found in the treated area, compared to an untreated area in the Park. In addition, slightly reduced numbers of larvae were found in the treated area. Population density and any increase in the incidence of mortality to the larvae caused by the fungus will be examined during the next beetle season.