Insect traps near busy ports could provide crucial early warnings of the arrival of invasive tree-boring beetles.
These pests can damage forests and can travel around the world hidden in wood. So Davide Rassati and his colleagues at the University of Padua in Legnaro, Italy, laid out bait to lure the beetles into traps at 15 Italian ports and in the surrounding forests. They caught 14 alien species, including Cordylomera spinicornis (pictured), along with native beetles from the Scolytinae, Cerambycidae and Buprestidae families, including four species never before found in Italy. The number of alien species correlated with the volume of imports at the ports.
The authors suggest that traps in busy ports could help the fight against these economically damaging invasive pests.
J. Appl. Ecol. http://doi.org/vrj (2014)
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Boring invaders held at the border. Nature 513, 462 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/513462c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/513462c
