Morphobioecological features and harmfulness of apple-blossom weevil (Anthonomus pomorum Linnaeus, 1758)
Abstract
I.V. Zabrodina*, M.D. Yevtushenko, S.V. Stankevych, O.A. Molchanova, H.V. Baidyk, I.P. Lezhenina, M.O. Filatov, L.Ya. Sirous, D.D. Yushchuk, V.O. Melenti, O.V. Romanov, T.A. Romanova and O.M. Bragin
In the course of the literature critical analysis the authors paid special attention to the morphological, biological and ecological features of the apple-blossom weevil in fruit plantations, both in Ukraine and abroad; the authors came to the conclusion that despite the considerable number of literary sources devoted to the apple-blossom weevil, there is still a number of its biological and ecological features which are in close connection with the protection measures for controlling it and these measures have not yet been completely clarified. In particular, the relationship between the phenology of the apple varieties of different time of ripening and the period of egg- laying as well as between the period of summer diapause of the pest and its concentration places during the summer diapause and during hibernation remains unclear. There is also a lack of data on the density of the hibernating beetles of the apple-blossom weevil under the dead bark on the trunks and boughs, in the surface layer of soil and plant litter of the crown projection per apple tree; the knowledge of these facts would allow to calculate the pest density in the next spring in order to protect the apple trees before blossoming. The data obtained by the entomologists from different countries regarding the harmfulness of the apple-blossom weevil and its economic importance are quite controversial and also need experimental confirmation.