Environmental Entomology (2021) 50, 663-672

Willem G. van Herk, Robert S. Vernon, Ted J. Labun, Mika H. Sevcik and Timothy D. Schwinghamer (2021)
Distribution of pest wireworm (Coleoptera: Elateridae) species in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba (Canada)
Environmental Entomology 50 (3), 663-672
Abstract: We present findings of a general survey of pest wireworms in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba conducted from 2004 to 2019; the first such survey of the Canadian Prairie provinces since that published by Glen et al. (1943). Samples were collected from 571 farmland locations where crop damage from wireworms was observed or suspected, and a total of 5,704 specimens (3,548 larvae, 2,156 beetles) were identified. Most specimens (96.9%) were identified as Hypnoidus bicolor (3,278), Selatosomus aeripennis destructor (1,280), Limonius californicus (842), and Aeolus mellillus (125). This suggests that H. bicolor has replaced S. a. destructor as the predominant species and that the relative importance of L. californicus as a pest species has increased since earlier reports. Despite the relatively small number of specimens collected per location (approx. 10), H. bicolor and S. a. destructor, and S. a. destructor and L. californicus were frequently collected at or near the same location (within 1 km). We provide species records and incidence of co-occurrence at different spatial scales, discuss potential reasons for and implications of shifts in species composition, implications of species co-occurrence for managing wireworm pests in crop production, and outline pertinent research needs. A path analysis approach used to correlate incidence of the main species with various soil characteristics indicated that organic matter, cation exchange capacity, and water retention capacity all had a significant species-specific influence on wireworm presence.
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Willem G. van Herk, Robert S. Vernon

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
surveys/sampling/distribution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Hypnoidus bicolor		Canada (west)
	Limonius californicus		Canada (west)
	Aeolus mellillus		Canada (west)
	Selatosomus aeripennis		Canada (west)