Flight capacity of emerald ash borer Agrilus planipennis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) and its parasitoid Tetrastichus planipennisi (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), in response to several experimental treatments

Abstract

Emerald ash borer Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) is an invasive beetle native to eastern Asia. Tetrastichus planipennisi Yang (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) is one of three hymenopteran parasitoids currently being introduced into North America as part of a classical biological control program against emerald ash borer. Here, custom-built, computer-monitored flight mills were used to measure the effects of age, feeding status, mating status, sex, and size on flight metrics of T. planipennisi. The flight mill was then used to measure flight metrics of emerald ash borer and T. planipennisi across a range of temperatures and relative humidity. The relationship between flight energetics, specifically flight distance, with temperature was then integrated with landscape temperatures at ten locations throughout the continental United States to compare relative dispersal capacity for emerald ash borer and T. planipennisi. The goal of this research was to elucidate factors that mediate the flight capacity of both insects and, for T. planipennisi, to infer the pre- and post-release conditions that may optimize flight capacity.