Agrilus mali: a quarantine pest for Russia
Agrilus mali is a buprestid beetle with a limited distribution in Russia (Amur province, Primorskii and Khabarovskii territories - all in the Far East). It also occurs in China, Japan and Korea. The larva burrows in the sapwood and heartwood of branches and shoots of apple in which it overwinters. Adults emerge in July, and lay the eggs from which a new generation of larvae emerges to attack the wood in late summer and autumn. Apple trees are damaged in nurseries and orchards. Affected branches show depressions which dry out and split. Young shoots show the tracks of larval feeding on the bark. The branches of a tree can carry up to 70 attacks, and the trunk up to 300, causing individual branches or the whole tree to die. Control measures included thorough pruning and burning of the pruned wood, uprooting and burning of the most damaged trees, insecticide treatments, shaking trees to catch adult beetles in trays of mineral oil. Strict measures are taken in Russia to stop spread of this pest to the European part. It may be of concern to other European countries.
Sources
Nikritin, L.M. (1994) [Apple buprestid beetle]
Zashchita Rastenii, No. 3, p 46.