Wang Yi, Ding Jianqing, Wheeler Gregory S, Purcell Matthew F, Zhang Guoan
Invasion Biology and Biological Control Laboratory, Wuhan Botanical Garden/Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, PR China.
Environ Entomol. 2009 Aug;38(4):1135-44. doi: 10.1603/022.038.0421.
Native to China, Chinese tallow, Triadica sebifera L. Small (Euphorbiaceae), is an invasive plant in the southeastern United States. The leaf-rolling weevil, Heterapoderopsis bicallosicollis Voss, is a common herbivore attacking this plant in China. To evaluate its potential as a biological control agent of T. sebifera, biology and host specificity of this weevil were studied in China. H. bicallosicollis occurs over a wide, native, geographic range and its immatures successfully develop at 15-35 degrees C, indicating its physiological potential to establish and persist throughout the range of climatic conditions where the target plant grows in the United States. Adults make feeding holes on leaves. Before oviposition, the female makes a sealed leaf roll called a nidus and then lays one to two eggs inside. Eggs, larvae, and pupae develop within nidi, and larvae survive only when they develop inside the nidi. This requirement makes the weevil highly host specific to T. sebifera. In laboratory no-choice tests of 54 species from eight families, adults fed on only 3 plant species, T. sebifera, Sapium chihsinianum S. K. Lee, and Phyllanthus urinaria L. and only oviposited on T. sebifera. These results were confirmed where, in multiple-choice tests, adults only oviposited on T. sebifera. Given that T. sebifera is the only species in the genus Triadica in the United States, the results of this study suggest that H. bicallosicollis is a potential biological control agent of T. sebifera and should be considered to be imported into quarantine in the United States for further tests on native North American species.
乌桕（Triadica sebifera L. Small，大戟科）原产于中国，是美国东南部的一种入侵植物。卷叶象鼻虫（Heterapoderopsis bicallosicollis Voss）是中国一种常见的以该植物为食的食草动物。为了评估其作为乌桕生物防治剂的潜力，在中国对这种象鼻虫的生物学特性和寄主专一性进行了研究。双瘤异象鼻虫分布在广泛的原生地理范围内，其未成熟个体在15至35摄氏度的环境中能够成功发育，这表明它在目标植物生长的美国整个气候条件范围内具有定殖和持续生存的生理潜力。成虫在叶片上咬出取食孔。在产卵前，雌虫会制作一个密封的叶卷，称为虫巢，然后在里面产下1至2枚卵。卵、幼虫和蛹在虫巢内发育，幼虫只有在虫巢内发育才能存活。这一特性使得这种象鼻虫对乌桕具有高度的寄主专一性。在对8个科的54种植物进行的实验室无选择试验中，成虫只取食3种植物，即乌桕、青灰叶下珠（Sapium chihsinianum S. K. Lee）和叶下珠（Phyllanthus urinaria L.），并且只在乌桕上产卵。这些结果在多项选择试验中得到了证实，成虫只在乌桕上产卵。鉴于乌桕是美国三叶乌桕属中唯一的物种，本研究结果表明双瘤异象鼻虫是乌桕的一种潜在生物防治剂，应考虑将其引入美国检疫，以便对北美本土物种进行进一步测试。
