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Wood-boring beetles associated with Acacia xanthophloea in Nairobi and Machakos Counties, Kenya

Naivasha thorn tree, Acacia xanthophloea, is grown for foliage, timber, shade and rehabilitation of soils in areas with high water tables in Kenya. Its production is threatened by insect pests, which cause major losses. Very little is documented on wood-boring beetles which cause considerable econom...

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Autores principales: Kahuthia-Gathu, Ruth, Kirubi Thungu, Duncan, Wangu, Lucy, Kimani, Rachael
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5870935/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29584732
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188773
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author Kahuthia-Gathu, Ruth
Kirubi Thungu, Duncan
Wangu, Lucy
Kimani, Rachael
author_facet Kahuthia-Gathu, Ruth
Kirubi Thungu, Duncan
Wangu, Lucy
Kimani, Rachael
author_sort Kahuthia-Gathu, Ruth
collection PubMed
description Naivasha thorn tree, Acacia xanthophloea, is grown for foliage, timber, shade and rehabilitation of soils in areas with high water tables in Kenya. Its production is threatened by insect pests, which cause major losses. Very little is documented on wood-boring beetles which cause considerable economic damage to lumber used in a variety of applications, and little is known about their natural enemies in Kenya. We conducted the study to evaluate the occurrence of wood-boring beetles on A. xanthophloea in two different regions of Kenya. Infested wood samples of A. xanthophloea with fresh exit holes were collected from three sites in Kenyatta University (KU), Nairobi and Mitaboni in Machakos, Kenya. The samples were placed in clear plastic buckets and kept at ambient temperatures 23±2°C, 65±10% relative humidity and 12L: 12D in a laboratory where they were observed daily for adult emergence. Adult beetles were collected every three days for identification and data recording. The experiment was replicated four times and data collected twice a week for 6 months. Data on abundance was subjected to analysis of variance using SAS software. A total of 5,850 and 4,691 beetles were collected where 2,187 and 3,097 were Bostrichidae, accounting for 37% and 66% in KU and Mitaboni, respectively. A total of 12 bostrichid species was identified, including Sinoxylon ruficorne, S. doliolum, Xylion adustus, Xyloperthodes nitidipennis, Xyloperthella picea, Xylopsocus castanoptera, Lyctus brunneus, Heterbostrychus brunneus, Xylopsocus sp., and Dinoderus gabonicus. The most abundant species in KU was Xylion adustus with 1,915 beetles accounting for 88.4%, and Sinoxylon ruficorne in Mitaboni with 1,050 beetles accounting for 33.9% of the total. Sinoxylon ruficorne was only recorded in Mitaboni while only 2 specimens of D. gabonicus were found in KU. The mean number of exit holes on A. xanthophloea differed significantly between sites, which corresponded approximately to the amount of economic damage caused by the beetles to the structural integrity of the lumber. In addition, a number of predators in the family Cerambycidae, Cleridae, Histeridae and parasitoids from Braconidae, Ichneumonidae, and Chalcididae were recovered, suggesting a need to conduct further studies to document these species' diversity, parasitism rates and efficacy for possible biological control.
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spelling pubmed-58709352018-04-06 Wood-boring beetles associated with Acacia xanthophloea in Nairobi and Machakos Counties, Kenya Kahuthia-Gathu, Ruth Kirubi Thungu, Duncan Wangu, Lucy Kimani, Rachael PLoS One Research Article Naivasha thorn tree, Acacia xanthophloea, is grown for foliage, timber, shade and rehabilitation of soils in areas with high water tables in Kenya. Its production is threatened by insect pests, which cause major losses. Very little is documented on wood-boring beetles which cause considerable economic damage to lumber used in a variety of applications, and little is known about their natural enemies in Kenya. We conducted the study to evaluate the occurrence of wood-boring beetles on A. xanthophloea in two different regions of Kenya. Infested wood samples of A. xanthophloea with fresh exit holes were collected from three sites in Kenyatta University (KU), Nairobi and Mitaboni in Machakos, Kenya. The samples were placed in clear plastic buckets and kept at ambient temperatures 23±2°C, 65±10% relative humidity and 12L: 12D in a laboratory where they were observed daily for adult emergence. Adult beetles were collected every three days for identification and data recording. The experiment was replicated four times and data collected twice a week for 6 months. Data on abundance was subjected to analysis of variance using SAS software. A total of 5,850 and 4,691 beetles were collected where 2,187 and 3,097 were Bostrichidae, accounting for 37% and 66% in KU and Mitaboni, respectively. A total of 12 bostrichid species was identified, including Sinoxylon ruficorne, S. doliolum, Xylion adustus, Xyloperthodes nitidipennis, Xyloperthella picea, Xylopsocus castanoptera, Lyctus brunneus, Heterbostrychus brunneus, Xylopsocus sp., and Dinoderus gabonicus. The most abundant species in KU was Xylion adustus with 1,915 beetles accounting for 88.4%, and Sinoxylon ruficorne in Mitaboni with 1,050 beetles accounting for 33.9% of the total. Sinoxylon ruficorne was only recorded in Mitaboni while only 2 specimens of D. gabonicus were found in KU. The mean number of exit holes on A. xanthophloea differed significantly between sites, which corresponded approximately to the amount of economic damage caused by the beetles to the structural integrity of the lumber. In addition, a number of predators in the family Cerambycidae, Cleridae, Histeridae and parasitoids from Braconidae, Ichneumonidae, and Chalcididae were recovered, suggesting a need to conduct further studies to document these species' diversity, parasitism rates and efficacy for possible biological control. Public Library of Science 2018-03-27 /pmc/articles/PMC5870935/ /pubmed/29584732 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188773 Text en © 2018 Kahuthia-Gathu et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kahuthia-Gathu, Ruth
Kirubi Thungu, Duncan
Wangu, Lucy
Kimani, Rachael
Wood-boring beetles associated with Acacia xanthophloea in Nairobi and Machakos Counties, Kenya
title Wood-boring beetles associated with Acacia xanthophloea in Nairobi and Machakos Counties, Kenya
title_full Wood-boring beetles associated with Acacia xanthophloea in Nairobi and Machakos Counties, Kenya
title_fullStr Wood-boring beetles associated with Acacia xanthophloea in Nairobi and Machakos Counties, Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Wood-boring beetles associated with Acacia xanthophloea in Nairobi and Machakos Counties, Kenya
title_short Wood-boring beetles associated with Acacia xanthophloea in Nairobi and Machakos Counties, Kenya
title_sort wood-boring beetles associated with acacia xanthophloea in nairobi and machakos counties, kenya
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5870935/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29584732
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188773
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