Pests
Hoplocampa testudinea Klug. - Apple Sawfly, European Apple Sawfly
Systematic position.
Class Insecta, order Hymenoptera, family Tenthredinidae, Hoplocampa Hartig.Biological group.
This is a pest of apple.Morphology and biology.
Underside of body yellow, dorsal side darkened (head with big black spot, dorsal side of abdomen black in color), antennae and legs yellow. Apical margin of clypeus is deeply emarginated. Eyes elongated. Vertex towers above ocelli. Antennae are 9-segmented. Ovipositor is as long as, or longer than hind tibia. Body length of adult is 6-7 mm. Larvae have 7 pairs of abdominal prolegs and scent glands. Head of larvae reddish-brown, body shiny yellowish-white, last two segments with small brown spots. Larvae of the last instar hibernate. Larvae will diapaus in a cocoon in the soil at depths of 5-10 cm; rarely down to 20 cm.Pupation occurs in the spring, at a temperature of about 12°C at a depth of 10 cm. A part of the population stays in diapause for 2-3 years. Adults emerge from the red buds phase through the end of blossoming. Adult activity occurs during sunny and calm weather at air temperatures of about 16°C. Fertility is near 50-90 eggs. Female scarifies epidermis of calyx and sepals with ovipositor and lays eggs one by one into fruitlets. Eggs develop in 7-18 days. After hatching the larva mines fruit, but these fruits remain on the tree, having a specific long scar on their surface. Larvae of older instars crawl over to the next fruit, devouring their seeds and seed chambers. Larva development lasts 18-23 days. During this period the larva injures 3-6 fruits.
Distribution.
This species is known from Central and Northern Europe and from Asia Minor. In the former USSR it inhabits the Baltic States, Byelorussia, Moldova, Ukraine, the European part of Russia, and the Caucasus. Hoplocampa ephyppiata Knw. is the pest of apple east of the Ural.Ecology.
Flight and oviposition occur earlier than those in Cydia pomonella L. Damaged fruit have an open hole, and seed chambers are rotten. Larval frass is fluid, with specific smell. In forest-steppe zone damaged fruits fall to earth from the beginning of June. Population density in nature depends on the activity of parasites of the following larvae: Lathrolestes marginatus Thoms., L. ensator Brauns., Phygadeuon talitzkii Tel.Economic significance.
Early-maturing apple types are more strongly injured. In Georgia the harmfulness of H. testudinea is sometimes as strong as that of Cydia pomonella L. White sticky traps are used to monitor pest. Control measures include double insecticide treatments in spring after the mass appearance of adults during the pink stage of bud development and immediately after blossoming. Autumn plowing and disking between tree rows are important preventive control measures against the H. testudinea.Reference citations:
Batiashvili I.D. 1959. Pests of continental and subtropical fruit crops. Tbilisi: Institut sel'skogo khozyaistva. 455 p. (In Russian)Ermolenko V.M. 1984. Family Tenthredinidae. In: Kopaneva L.M., ed. Keys to harmful and useful insects and mites on the fruiters and berry crops in the USSR. Leningrad: Kolos. 288 p. (In Russian)
Gainanova S.Yu. 1972. Biological peculiarities of Hoplocampa testudinea Klug. and other pests of apple orchards in Saratov Region situated on the right bank and control measures. Candidate thesis biol. sci. Saratov: Saratov SkhI. 26 p. (In Russian)
Gusev V.G., Ermolenko V.M., Svishchuk V.V., Shmigovskii K.A. 1962. The atlas of insect pests of Ukraine. Kiev: Radyans'ka Shkola. 224 p. (In Ukrainian)
Mirzoyan S.A. 1970. Sawflies and horntails - the pests of bush and forest plantations of Armenia. In: Mardzhanyan G.M., ed. Collection of works of Armenian Institute of Plant Protection. V. 1. Erevan: Armenian Institute of Plant Protection. 95-118 p. (In Russian)
Savkovskii P.P. 1976. Atlas of the pests of fruit and berry plants. Kiev: Urozhai. 207 p. (In Russian)
Tryapitsyn V.A., Zhelokhovtsev A.N. 1981. Order Hymenoptera, Suborder Symphyta. In: Narchuk E.P., Tryapitsyn V.A., eds. Insects and mites - pests of agricultural plants. V. 4. Hymenoptera and Diptera. Leningrad: Nauka. 221 p. (In Russian)
Vasil'ev V.P., ed. 1973. Pests of agricultural crops and forest plantations. V. 1. Kiev: Urozhai. 496 p. (In Russian)
Zhelokhovtsev A.N. 1988. Order Hymenoptera. Suborder Symphyta (Chalastogastra). Keys to insects of European part of the USSR. V. 3. Part. 6. Leningrad: Nauka. 288 p. (In Russian)