Abstract
Crapemyrtle bark scale (CMBS; Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae) is an exotic pest species that causes aesthetic and economic damage to crapemyrtles and poses potential threats to other horticultural crops in the United States. Although previous studies reported the infestation of CMBS on several alternative hosts across multiple families in Asia, its potential threats to other documented alternative hosts remain elusive and yet to be confirmed. In this study, feeding preference studies of CMBS were conducted on forty-nine plant species and cultivars in 2016 and 2019, in order to gain insight into the expansion of CMBS distribution in the United States, as well as other regions of the world. The infestations of CMBS were confirmed on apple (Malus domestica), Chaenomeles speciosa, Disopyros rhombifolia, Heimia salicifolia, Lagerstroemia ‘Spiced Plum’, M. angustifolia, and twelve out of thirty-five pomegranate cultivars. However, the levels of CMBS infestation on these test plant hosts in this study is very low compared to Lagerstroemia, and may not cause significant damage. No sign of CMBS infestation was observed on Rubus ‘Arapaho’, R. ‘Navaho’, R. idaeus ‘Dorman Red’, R. fruticosus, B. microphylla var. koreana × B. sempervirens, B. harlandii, or D. virginiana.
Highlights
Crapemyrtle bark scale (CMBS; Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae Borchsenius, 1960) originates fromEast Asia, and has been reported to infest important horticultural crops, such as crapemyrtles and pomegranates, in Japan, Korea, India, and China [1,2]
Since its first discovery in the United States in 2004 in Richardson, TX, the infestation of this scale insect has been confirmed in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia [3], and Washington [4]
This study aims to expand the current knowledge on the host range of CMBS in the United States, and help the development of an effective integrated pest management program for controlling this pest insect
Summary
Crapemyrtle bark scale (CMBS; Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae Borchsenius, 1960) originates from. East Asia, and has been reported to infest important horticultural crops, such as crapemyrtles and pomegranates, in Japan, Korea, India, and China [1,2]. The most common host of CMBS, crapemyrtles (Lagerstroemia spp.), is an important landscape tree in the southern United States, which generates a combined market value (wholesale) of around USD 67 million per year [5]. The widespread distribution of this exotic pest species poses threats to other potential alternative host crops, especially native plant species such as American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) in the United States [4]
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