ARS | Publication request: Flea Beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) Associated with Purple Loosestrife, Lythrum Salicaria, in Russia

Submitted to: International Symposium On Biological Control Of Weeds
Publication Acceptance Date: March 1, 2004
Publication Date: August 31, 2004
Citation: Dolgovskaya, M.Y., Konstantinov, A.S., Reznik, S.Y., Spencer, N.R., Volkovitsh, M.G. 2004. Flea Beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) Associated With Purple Loosestrife, Lythrum Salicaria, In Russia. International Symposium On Biological Control Of Weeds. P. 96-101.

Technical Abstract: Purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria L., has become one of the more troublesome wetland exotic invasive weeds in Canada and the United States from initial introductions some 200 years ago. In the US, purple loosestrife has spread too much of the contiguous 48 states with the highest density in the northeast. Similarly, the eastern Maritime Provinces of Canada appear to be the site of initial infestation however, the weed is now recorded in all the Canadian provinces with the exception of Yukon and North-West Territories. A biological control effort begun in the 1970s resulted in the introduction in the 1990s of four insect species: a root-boring and a flower-feeding weevil, and two leaf beetle species (both adults and larvae are leaf feeders). As long-term impact assessment of these introductions are conducted, additional research is looking at other potential biological control agents. Thus, flea beetles with root-feeding larvae and leaf-feeding adults may be of value. Purple loosestrife is widespread in Russia in wet meadows, riverbanks and other moist habitats from the Baltic region to Eastern Russia. Literature searches, studies of museum collections and ecological observations in the field and the laboratory suggest that a number of flea beetle species feed on L. salicaria, of which Aphthona lutescens appears to be a particularly promising biocontrol agent.