Intraspecific Divergence of the Colorado Beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineataSay (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) on the Territory of the USSR and Russia

Abstract

Abstract The article presents the results of more than 40 years of research on the intraspecific variability and divergent microevolution of the Colorado Potato Beetle (CPB) during its expansion in the USSR and Russia. In this part of the species secondary area, 9 of its allopatric forms were mapped at the level of races (ecotypes), including 2 new ecotypes - northern and Azerbaijani, were identified in the last 5 years. To indicate ecotypes in the CPB area, the methods of classical population phenetics are applied. Ecotypes of the pest were formed in various potato-growing agro-climatic zones and differ in the individuals occurrence frequency with 9 types (morphs) of the imago pronotum pattern. Long-term changes in the phenetic structure of individual pest ecotypes over a period of 30-40 years were revealed. This indicates the continuation of microevolutionary processes in the CPB within the realized area due to the instability of the ecological situation in the agroecosystems. Under these conditions, the main inducers of divergent processes in pest populations are the agricultural production factors - for example, the resistant potato varieties such as Peterburgskiy, Ryabinushka, Sudaryinya and others.