Black Turpentine Beetle Biological Control

Dendroctonus terebrans (Oliver)
Scolytidae

From: Frank, J. Howard and John L. Foltz, 1997, Classical Biological Control of Pest Insects of Trees in the Southern United States: A Review and Recommendations, USDA, FS, FHTET-96-20.

Native: AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, OK, TX, VA, WV.

Resident natural enemies: We found no publications on specific enemies of D. terebrans.

Biological control attempts: Small numbers of Rhizophagus grandis Gyllenhal, inported from Belgium, were released in LA in 1988 as a biological control agent for D. terebrans (Moser 1989).

Biological control possibilities: Rhizophagus grandis is claimed to be a major mortality factor of D. micans in Eurasia and may be exceptional among Rhizophagus species, in that others may be fungivores rather than predators. R. grandis is attracted not only to volatile chemicals present in larval frass of D. micans, but also in that of the U.S. species D. frontalis and D. terebrans (Miller et al. 1987). Miller et al. (1987) suggested introducing R. grandis into the United States as a biological control agent mainly for D. terebrans, and with lesser possibilities for the control of D. frontalis, whose larvae are not gregarious, unlike those of D. micans and D. terebrans. A policy of waiting for analysis of results of European programs using this predator may have been fiscally conservative, but it seems the time has now come to plan an investment in a rearing, release, and evaluation program against D. frontalis and D. terebrans jointly, in several southern states. Such a strategy appears to be the most likely one in classical biological control to succeed. Techniques for rearing R. grandis and for monitoring populations of D. frontalis and D. terebrans have been devised. Dahlsten and Whitmore (1989) give arguments for and against biological control of bark beetles.

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