Scarabaeid Pests: Subfamily Rutelinae

This chapter looks at the Japanese beetle, in the order Coleoptera, family Scarabaeidae, subfamily Rutelinae (shiny leaf chafer), tribe Anomalini. The Japanese beetle is considered the single most important widespread turfgrass-infesting scarabaeid in the United States. Japanese beetle larvae cause significant damage to turfgrass in eastern North America and are also a major pest as adults, feeding on foliage, flowers, and fruits of more than 300 species of plants, including agricultural fruits and vegetables, ornamental plants, field and forage crops, and weeds. The chapter then considers the oriental beetle, which was first named the Asiatic beetle. The oriental beetle has become a major pest of turfgrass and occasionally is a pest of ornamentals in the northeastern United States.

A novel application of oriental beetle juvenile Anomala corpulenta to reflect Pb contamination in soil

Objective: Insects dwelled in soil play a key role in monitoring of metal contaminations. In order to explore the toxicity of lead (Pb) in soil, juvenile of oriental beetle Anomala corpulenta, were firstly applied to analyze effect of Pb. Methods: In the current study, toxicity of different concentrations Pb on A. corpulenta in the laboratory was performed by measuring survival, growth and avoidance of animals. Meanwhile, activities of acetylcholinesterase (ChE), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in A. corpulenta were examined to quantify the extent of alterations caused by Pb treatments. Result: Events of mortality were occurred in the Pb treated groups (1200 and 1600 mg Pb/kg soil). Administration of Pb treatments could result in a significant decrease of mean end weights in contrasted with that of control group. Treatment of Pb at 800 mg Pb/kg soil caused an obviously avoidance behavior. Expressions of ChE, SOD, CAT and GSH-Px of Pb treated groups were significant decreased compared with that of control group in the experiment observed. Conclusion: Pb contamination of soil may cause multiple effects on juvenile A. corpulenta including occurrence of mortality, delay of growth and avoidance of contaminated environment.

A host beetle pheromone regulates development and behavior in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus

Nematodes and insects are the two most speciose animal phyla and nematode–insect associations encompass widespread biological interactions. To dissect the chemical signals and the genes mediating this association, we investigated the effect of an oriental beetle sex pheromone on the development and behavior of the nematode Pristionchus pacificus. We found that while the beetle pheromone is attractive to P. pacificus adults, the pheromone arrests embryo development, paralyzes J2 larva, and inhibits exit of dauer larvae. To uncover the mechanism that regulates insect pheromone sensitivity, a newly identified mutant, Ppa-obi-1, is used to reveal the molecular links between altered attraction towards the beetle pheromone, as well as hypersensitivity to its paralyzing effects. Ppa-obi-1 encodes lipid-binding domains and reaches its highest expression in various cell types, including the amphid neuron sheath and excretory cells. Our data suggest that the beetle host pheromone may be a species-specific volatile synomone that co-evolved with necromeny.