Evaluation location: Washington, United States
The cereal leaf beetle (CLB), Oulema melanopus (L.) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), colonized grass germplasm nurseries of the USDA, ARS Western Regional Plant Introduction Station (WRPIS) in southeastern Washington. Although 55 (88.7%) of 62 accessions in 2008 nurseries exhibited symptoms of CLB adult feeding, only 17 accessions in the genera Agrostis, Dactylis, Elymus, Lolium, and Phalaris suffered extensive damage (61 to 100% of leaf area of all plants/accession eaten by adults). The heavily damaged accessions recovered and produced seed in 2009. Little or no CLB adult and larval feeding was detected on second-year nursery plants in 2009. Adults fed on nursery plants of an endophyte-infected (E+) tall fescue accession in 2008. In experiments, CLB adults fed and oviposited and larvae developed on E+ Kentucky 31 (KY-31) tall fescue, Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) S.J. Darbyshire. These collective results suggest this invasive beetle could attack E+ grass accessions in future WRPIS nurseries.
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