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Ambrosia beetles are beetles of the weevil subfamilies Scolytinae and Platypodinae, which live in nutritional symbiosis with ambrosia fungi. The beetles excavate tunnels in dead or stressed trees in which they cultivate fungal gardens, their sole source of nutrition. After landing on a suitable tree, an ambrosia beetle excavates a tunnel in which it releases its fungal symbiont. The fungus penetrates the plant's xylem tissue, extracts nutrients from it, and concentrates the nutrients on and near the surface of the beetle gallery. Ambrosia fungi are typically poor wood degraders, and instead utilize less demanding nutrients. Symbiotic fungi produce and detoxify ethanol, which is an attractant for ambrosia beetles and likely prevents growth of antagonistic pathogens and selects for other beneficial symbionts. The majority of ambrosia beetles colonize xylem of recently dead trees, but some attack stressed trees that are still alive, and a few species attack healthy trees. Species differ in their preference for different parts of trees, different stages of deterioration, and in the shape of their tunnels ("galleries"). However, the majority of ambrosia beetles are not specialized to any taxonomic group of hosts, unlike most phytophagous organisms including the closely related bark beetles. One species of ambrosia beetle, Austroplatypus incompertus exhibits eusociality, one of the few organisms outside of Hymenoptera and Isoptera to do so.
The term mycangium is used in biology for special structures on the body of an animal that are adapted for the transport of symbiotic fungi. This is seen in many xylophagous insects, which apparently derive much of their nutrition from the digestion of various fungi that are growing amidst the wood fibers. In some cases, as in ambrosia beetles, the fungi are the sole food, and the excavations in the wood are simply to make a suitable microenvironment for the fungus to grow. In other cases, wood tissue is the main food, and fungi weaken the defense response from the host plant.
Xyleborus glabratus, the redbay ambrosia beetle, is a type of ambrosia beetle invasive in the United States. It has been documented as the primary vector of Raffaelea lauricola, the fungus that causes laurel wilt, a disease that can kill several North American tree species in the family Lauraceae, including redbay, sassafras, and avocado.
Coptodryas elegans is a species of ambrosia beetles in the tribe Xyleborini. It is found in Asia and the Pacific. The type locality is Raja Bhat Khawa in Bengal. It can be found on Albizzia moluccana, Eugenia jambolana, Lansium sp. and Shorea robusta.
Xyleborus dispar is a species of bark beetle commonly called the Pear blight beetle, or the European shothole borer. It is an invasive species in North America, and can be a pest in orchards and forests throughout its range.
Cryphalogenes exiguus, is a species of weevil found in Sri Lanka.
Euwallacea piceus, is a species of weevil native to Oriental Asia but introduced to African and other Westerns Pacific parts of the world. It is a serious pest in tropical and subtropical parts of the Americas.
Genyocerus albipennis, is a species of weevil endemic to Sri Lanka.
Scolytomimus rectus, is a species of weevil found in Sri Lanka. Larval host plant is Osbeckia.
Sphaerotrypes cristatus, is a species of weevil found in Sri Lanka. Larval host plants are Calophyllum, Shorea cordifolia, and Vateria copallifera.
Sueus niisimai is a species of weevil found in India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia. It is also found in Australia and Fiji, presumably introduced.
Xyleborinus andrewesi, is a species of weevil widely distributed throughout the Old World tropics and introduced to many New World countries.
Xyleborinus exiguus, is a species of weevil widely distributed throughout the Old World tropics and introduced to African and South American countries.
Xylosandrus discolor, is a species of weevil found in Australia, Micronesia, Myanmar, China, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand.
Xylosandrus mancus, is a species of weevil found in Afrotropical and Oriental regions.
Xylosandrus morigerus, is a species of weevil widespread throughout Afrotropical, Australian, Neotropical, Oceania and Oriental regions. It is also introduced to Palearctic regional countries.
Xylosandrus pygmaeus, is a species of weevil found in Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
Arixyleborus mediosectus, is a species of weevil found in India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia: Sumatra and Vietnam.
Arixyleborus rugosipes, is a species of weevil native to India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Malaysia, Borneo, Vietnam, Indonesia, and in Australia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand as an exotic species.
Diuncus haberkorni, is a species of weevil found in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Java, Japan, Malaysia, New Guinea, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is also imported to African countried such as South Africa, and Tanzania.
References
- ↑ "ambrosia beetle: Ambrosiodmus asperatus (Coleoptera: Scolytidae)". www.barkbeetles.org. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
- ↑ "HISL - PEET Scolytinae". xyleborini.speciesfile.org. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
- ↑ "Ambrosiodmus". www.ambrosiasymbiosis.org. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
- ↑ "SE Asian Ambrosia Beetle ID | Fact sheet". idtools.org. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
- ↑ Wood, Stephen L. (1989). "Nomenclatural Changes and New Species of Scolytidae (Coleoptera), Part IV". The Great Basin Naturalist. 49 (2): 167–185. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.22642. JSTOR 41712501 . Retrieved 2021-08-16.
- ↑ "Ambrosiodmus asperatus (Blandford)". www.gbif.org. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
