About the nutrition of Cleroclytus semirufus Kraatz, 1884 (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) with the exudate of the Fire blight of fruit crops

Abstract

For the first time, of the xylophage pest the longhorn beetle, Cleroclytus semirufus Kraatz, 1884 is noted to feed on the exudate of the bacterium Erwinia amylovora (Burrill, 1882) Winslow et al., 1920, the causative agent of a dangerous quarantine disease - fire blight of fruit crops. Feeding cases of beetles on the bacterial exudate of E. amylovora accounted for 36% of the total number of observations on the feeding of adults of this species. Possible routes of transmission of E. amylovora by longhorn beetles C. semirufus are considered. Infestation by larvae of C. semirufus was noted to a greater extent on apple trees infected with fire blight of fruit crops (77% of the total number of examined trees), since females of longhorn beetles prefer trees weakened for various reasons for laying eggs. Beetles C. semirufus, by transferring the fire blight of fruit crops to healthy trees, and thereby weakening them, form more favorable conditions for his reproduction. In turn, adults emerging from infested trees also transmit E. amylovora by carrying spores on the body, or by feeding on exudate, or both. That is, a typical infectious disease system "Donor-vector-recipient" is formed. The longhorn beetles is widely distributed in the zone of intensive fruit growing in Kazakhstan (in the South and South-East), and is a wide polyphage capable of transferring E. amylovora not only to the apple tree, but also to other fruit trees. Therefore, further study and monitoring of the population of this and other stem pests as a vector of fire blight of fruit crops is required. In addition, measures to control their numbers are not sufficiently developed.