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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.
A bark beetle is the common name for the subfamily of beetles Scolytinae. Previously, this was considered a distinct family (Scolytidae), but is now understood to be a specialized clade of the "true weevil" family (Curculionidae). Although the term "bark beetle" refers to the fact that many species feed in the inner bark (phloem) layer of trees, the subfamily also has many species with other lifestyles, including some that bore into wood, feed in fruit and seeds, or tunnel into herbaceous plants. Well-known species are members of the type genus Scolytus, namely the European elm bark beetle S. multistriatus and the large elm bark beetle S. scolytus, which like the American elm bark beetle Hylurgopinus rufipes, transmit Dutch elm disease fungi (Ophiostoma). The mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae, southern pine beetle Dendroctonus frontalis, and their near relatives are major pests of conifer forests in North America. A similarly aggressive species in Europe is the spruce ips Ips typographus. A tiny bark beetle, the coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei is a major pest on coffee plantations around the world.
Xyleborus is by far the largest ambrosia beetle genus in the tribe Xyleborini, with over 500 species.
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.
Platypus apicalis, known by its common name the New Zealand pinhole boring beetle, is a wood-boring beetle endemic to New Zealand and found throughout the North and South Island in a range of environments.
Euwallacea fornicatus is a species complex consisting of multiple cryptic species of ambrosia beetles, known as an invasive species in California, Israel and South Africa. The species has also been unintentionally introduced into exotic greenhouses in several European countries. As the rest of the ambrosia beetles, E. fornicatus larvae and adults feed on a symbiotic fungus carried in a specific structure called mycangium. In E. fornicatus, the mycangium is located in the mandible. The combination of massive numbers of beetles with the symbiotic fungus kills trees, even though the fungus alone is a weak pathogen.
Xylosandrus compactus is a species of ambrosia beetle. Common names for this beetle include black twig borer, black coffee borer, black coffee twig borer and tea stem borer. The adult beetle is dark brown or black and inconspicuous; it bores into a twig of a host plant and lays its eggs, and the larvae create further tunnels through the plant tissues. These beetles are agricultural pests that damage the shoots of such crops as coffee, tea, cocoa and avocado.
Platypus quercivorus, the oak ambrosia beetle, is a species of weevil and pest of broad-leaved trees. This species is most commonly known for vectoring the fungus responsible for excessive oak dieback in Japan since the 1980s. It is found in Japan, India, Indonesia, New Guinea, and Taiwan.
Euplatypus parallelus, previously known as Platypus parallelus, is a species of ambrosia beetle in the weevil family Curculionidae. The adults and larvae form galleries in various species of tree and logs. It is native to Central and South America but has spread globally, is present in Africa and is well established in tropical Asia.
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.
Euwallacea interjectus, is a species of weevil native to Asia but introduced to Westerns parts of the world.
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.
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.
Debus emarginatus, is a species of weevil widely distributed throughout the Old World tropics.
Xylosandrus morigerus, is a species of weevil widespread throughout Afrotropical, Australian, Neotropical, Oceania and Oriental regions. It is also introduced to Palearctic regional countries.
Euwallacea perbrevis, commonly known as tea shot-hole borer, is a species of weevil native to South and South-East Asia through to Australia, but introduced to Western countries.
Arixyleborus malayensis, is a species of weevil found in India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia. This is the only species of Arixyleborus found in Japan and China.
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.
Xyleborus perforans, commonly known as island pinhole borer, is a species of weevil native in the Oriental region through to Australia but shows a cosmopolitan distribution due to introduction to many parts of the world.
References
- ↑ "Damage to coconut by Xyleborus similis". www.cabdirect.org. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
- ↑ "SE Asian Ambrosia Beetle ID: Fact sheet". idtools.org. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
- 1 2 "Knowledge Bank: Xyleborus similis". www.plantwise.org. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
- ↑ Lynn, Kira M. T.; Wingfield, Michael J.; Durán, Alvaro; Oliveira, Leonardo S. S.; Beer, Z. Wilhelm de; Barnes, Irene (2021-05-04). "Novel Fusarium mutualists of two Euwallacea species infesting Acacia crassicarpa in Indonesia". Mycologia. 113 (3): 536–558. doi:10.1080/00275514.2021.1875708. hdl:2263/87297. PMID 33835895. S2CID 233201241 . Retrieved 2021-09-07.
- ↑ Setiawan, Yogo; Rachmawati, Rina; Tarno, Hagus (2018-09-21). "Diversity of ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) on teak forest in Malang District, East Java, Indonesia". Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity. 19 (5): 1791–1797. doi:10.13057/biodiv/d190528 . Retrieved 2021-09-07.
- 1 2 "Xyleborus similis datasheet". Invasive Species Compendium. Retrieved 2021-09-06.