Sphenoptera foveola (Buprestidae) as a potential agent for biological control of skeletonweed, Chondrilla juncea .

Abstract

AbstractSkeletonweed, Chondrilla juncea L. is an important invasive weed in the USA, Australia, and Argentina. With the aim of finding new potential agents for biological control of this weed, surveys were carried out in 2004 to 2005 in its native range in Southern Russia and Kazakhstan, where the bronze skeleton weed root borer, Sphenoptera foveola (Gebler) (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) was repeatedly collected from different Chondrilla species. According to the literature and our survey, this buprestid is widely distributed in sandy deserts of Southern Russia and Kazakhstan. Locally, it could be rather abundant. Observations suggest that both larvae and adults of S. foveola feed exclusively on plants of the genus Chondrilla. Adults feed on green stems, larvae feed externally (within latex case) on roots and, at high population density, can cause significant damage to attacked plants. We conclude that S. foveola should be considered as a potential agent for biological control of skeleton weed, although further studies (particularly, host-specificity tests) are necessary to prove this hypothesis. Sphenoptera (Deudora) clarescens Kerremans, another sphenopteran species attacking Chondrilla in Iran and Turkey, may have a different root-feeding strategy and invites further investigations to evaluate it as a potential agent for biological control of skeleton weed.