Detection of a mass breeding site of the elm sawfly-zigzag <i>Aproceros leucopoda</i> Takeuchi, 1939 (Hymenoptera: Argidae) in Voronezh

Abstract

During entomological monitoring, three species of sawflies were observed in the plantings of small-leaved elm Ulmus pumila Linnaeus (1753), rough U. glabra Hudson (1762) and smooth U. laevis Pallas (1784) in Voronezh. Slight overeating by the elm sawfly Cladius ulmi (Linnaeus, 1758) (Tenthredinidae) was found throughout the study area on three species of elms. Mines of the elm mining sawfly Fenusa ulmi Sundevall, 1847 (Tenthredinidae) were found only on the rough elm in the Northern district of the city. Isolated damage to the leaves of U. pumila by the zigzag sawfly Aproceros leucopoda Takeuchi, 1939 (Argidae) was noted in all districts of the city, U. glabra – only in two points of the Northern district. In early July 2023, a hearth with a high number of zigzag sawflies on U. pumila was discovered in the park of the Sovetsky district, in which 90% defoliation on U. pumila was recorded by early August. The flight of the imago of A. leucopoda on the territory of three parks and squares of the Sovetsky district was marked in the first decade of July. The female sawfly was caught on a city bus with the starting point of the route near the found hearth with a high number of sawflies, which confirms the transfer of the imago of the zigzag sawfly within the city by public transport.