Agriculture Victoria Research, Agribio Centre for AgriBiosciences, 5 Ring Road, Bundoora, 3083, Australia.
School of Applied Systems Biology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, 3086, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2024 Aug 22;14(1):19553. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-70687-x.
The nitidulid beetle Carpophilus truncatus is rapidly becoming a major pest of nut crops around the world. This insect first infested Australian almonds in 2013 and has since escalated to be the preeminent insect pest for the industry. Data pertaining to C. truncatus distribution are scant, but without awareness of its origin, distribution, and ecological factors that influence distribution, efforts to understand and manage the insect as a pest are stymied. Here, we employ an integrative approach to gain a multifaceted understanding of the distribution of C. truncatus in Australia. Methods employed were (1) reviewing historical records in insect collections to establish the presence of C. truncatus prior to commercial almond horticulture, (2) field trapping of insects to establish presence in regions of interest, (3) laboratory trials to determine the thermal limits of the organism, and (4) correlative species distribution modelling to describe its current distribution. We find that C. truncatus is more widespread across Australia than was previously known, with historical records preceding commercial almond production in Australia by a century. The methods developed in this study can be applied elsewhere in the world where C. truncatus is an emerging pest, or to novel pest species as they arise with increasing frequency in a globalised and warming world.
粒肩牛象甲正迅速成为世界各地坚果作物的主要害虫。这种昆虫于 2013 年首次侵袭澳大利亚杏仁，并已成为该行业的首要害虫。有关粒肩牛象甲分布的数据很少，但如果不了解其起源、分布以及影响分布的生态因素，就无法理解和管理这种昆虫作为害虫。在这里，我们采用综合方法来全面了解澳大利亚粒肩牛象甲的分布情况。采用的方法有：（1）查阅昆虫收藏中的历史记录，以确定粒肩牛象甲在商业杏仁种植业之前的存在情况；（2）在感兴趣的地区进行田间诱捕昆虫，以确定其存在情况；（3）进行实验室试验以确定该生物的热极限；（4）相关物种分布模型描述其当前的分布情况。我们发现，粒肩牛象甲在澳大利亚的分布范围比以前所知的要广泛得多，其历史记录早于澳大利亚商业杏仁生产一个世纪。本研究中开发的方法可以在粒肩牛象甲是新兴害虫的世界其他地方，或在全球化和变暖的世界中，随着新型害虫的频繁出现，应用于新型害虫物种。
