[Pollinator] Are Emerald Ash Tree Borers Flower Beetles

[Peter Bernhardt]

Please look at page 133 of the Science Times Section of the New York Times
(9/13/2011) and read the article by Anthony DePalma.  Forestry services are
catching emerald ash tree boring beetles with plastic sticky traps but the
best results come when the traps are deep purple in color.  The foresters
call them Barneys.  Now, this beetle belongs to the family Buprestidae and
all of us should know what many adult buprestids do when they feed or mate
in Australia.  I have sent the following letter (below) to the Science
Times.  Perhaps NAPPC members should volunteer their services.

To the Editor:

May I offer another explanation why the emerald tree borer is attracted to
those deep purple colored "Barney" traps (9/20/2011)?  It might offer a
second technique to control these tree killers.  This insect is a member of
the Family, Buprestidae.  Many members of this family feed on pollen and
nectar as winged adults.  In Australia, these "jewel" beetles are found in
the flowers of eucalyptus, ti trees, honey myrtles and Christmas bushes from
late spring through summer.

Some beetles that forage on flowers are known for their color biases. In
Israel, Dr. Amots Dafni (Haifa U.) found that hairy amphicoma scarabs
crawled into red colored cups and children's beach pails as readily as the
flowers of wild red tulips, scarlet anemones and poppies.  The same insects
visited blue and yellow cups far less often.  In southern Africa, Dr. Peter
Goldblatt of the Missouri Botanical Garden and I found that over 80 species
of monkey beetles visited dozens of native wildflowers in the iris, daisy,
hyacinth and sundew families.  What did such different, unrelated blossoms
have in common?  They formed shallow petal bowls, were poorly scented and,
most important, they had dark, deeply colored (often dark purple) centers
with light, bright petal tips.

If Mr Robert Mackenzie wants earlier evidence of the advance of emerald tree
borers within the New York City area I'd check out roadside stands of purple
asters at this time of year.  Flower beetles use flowers for two reasons.
 It's their restaurant and often their preferred mating site (sometimes
remaining en copula for hours).  Children and naturalists could help by
checking appropriately colored flowers.  Here's a new opportunity to find
emerald tree borers as they spread and you could help nip their chances for
the next generation... in the bud.

Peter Bernhardt, PhD
Dept. of Biology
St. Louis University
Saint Louis, MO
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