Zig-zagging across Central Europe: recent range extension, dispersal speed and larval hosts of Aproceros leucopoda (Hymenoptera, Argidae) in Germany

Abstract

Aproceros leucopoda, the zig-zag sawfly, an invasive pest of elms (Ulmus spp.), was found in two separate areas of Germany through July 2014, i.e., a northern area including the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, and a southern area in Bavaria. A speed of self-dispersal of 45–90 km/yr has been calculated from earlier and present records. Observations of A. leucopoda in Belgium and the Netherlands during 2013, which are 360–610 km distant from records in Germany of that year, are interpreted as resulting from human-mediated jump dispersal. Larvae, feeding traces and cocoons were frequently found on the native elm species U. minor and U. glabra, whereas none could be detected on U. laevis. Other occurrences were often on Resista® elms, causing severe defoliation in a recent planting. New host plant records for A. leucopoda are: U. minor ‘Webbiana’, U. minor var. suberosa, and the Resista® cultivars U. ‘New Horizon’, U. ‘Regal’ and U. ‘Rebona’. The future dispersal of A. leucopoda throughout most of Germany is expected, because at least U. glabra and U. minor are widespread in this country.