Acta Entomologica Sinica (2004) 47, 223-228

Hui Ye, Jun Lu and Francois Lieutier (2004)
On the bionomics of Tomicus minor (Hartig) (Coleoptera : Scolytidae) in Yunnan Province
Acta Entomologica Sinica 47 (2), 223-228
Abstract: Tomicus minor ( Hartig) is a major secondary pest of the Yunnan pine, Pinus yunnanensis Franchet. Since the 1980's, the pine shoot beetle together with T. piniperda ( L. )occurred in abundance in Yunnan, southwestern China, seriously damaging several hundred thousand ha of Yunnan pine forests. The biology and behaviorof the beetle is reported here, including its life cycle, development, shoot feeding, trunk attacking and reproduction. T. minor completed one generation per year, with consecutive two generations overlapping in winter and spring. Adults started to emerge from the mid April to late May. After emergence, T. minor flew to the crowns of nearby trees and fed on the shoots. The shoot feeding period lasted until the late November when adults matured. Adults attacked 4 - 6 shoots during shoot feeding. When matured, T. minor flies to the trunk of Yunnan pine tree for reproduction. The reproduction period lasted from the late November to March. T. minor mostly bred in the trees already attacked by T. piniperda. The attacks normally occurred one week later than T. piniperda, and focused on the mid and lower trunks. Since the beetle did its damage from the shoots to trunks, the damage to the host trees seemed more serious than that in other districts. Meanwhile, T. minor breeding in the trees attacked by T. piniperda would decrease the trees resistance, and so accelerate the death of the host tree. The beetle's bionomics and behavior in Yunnan is supposed to be the major reason that the beetle occurred massively and caused serious damages to the Yunnan pine trees in southwestern China. A fungus Leptographium yunnanensis was detected from T. minor and its galleries, which was regarded as the fungus associated with T. minor. Frequencies of the beetle carrying the fungus were 11.5 % during the shoot feeding period, and 10% - 26% during attacks of the trunk.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): Hui Ye, François Lieutier

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
environment - cropping system/rotation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Tomicus piniperda	Pine (Pinus)	China (south)
	Tomicus minor	Pine (Pinus)	China (south)
	Grosmannia yunnanensis	Pine (Pinus)	China (south)