Otiorhynchus sulcatus, an autopolyploid general‐purpose genotype species?

摘要

At the beginning of the 19th century the distribution of Otiorhynchus sulcatus (Fabricius) (black vine weevil) was limited to central Europe. The weevil was a sporadically noted pest by vine growers with patchily distributed incursions. Today O. sulcatus is a common pest species with a distribution covering most parts of Europe and North America, parts of Central Asia, South America, New Zealand, Japan etc. (Fig. 1) (Moorhouse et al. 1992). The weevil cause serious economical damage on a large number of horticultural and agricultural crops. Different grapevine, strawberry (Fragaria), Aronia, Taxus and Cyclamen species seem to be preferred (van Tol et al. 2004) but as many as 150 plants has been identified as potential host species (Smith 1932; Wanger and Negley 1976; Moorhouse et al. 1992). The larvae are the main cause of damage as it burrows and feed on the roots of the host plant. Adult black vine weevils feed on leaves and fruit and cause mostly ornamental damage, although defoliation is a problem in heavy infestations (Cone 1968; Moorhouse et al. 1992). The rapid spread and proliferation to new countries and continents is likely connected to human activities and monocultures in conjunction with the parthenogenetic nature of the weevil.Figure1. Open FigureDownload Powerpoint slideapproximate distribution of the triploid parthenogenetic Otiorhynchus sulcatus based on data from Moorhouse (1992), internet reports and reports from different horticultural growers (pers. comm..).