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Looking Ahead
Volume 60 Number 20 Date 12/03/2015

PEST HIGHLIGHTS OF 2015


EUROPEAN CORN BORER - Larval populations decreased to a 74-year low, according to annual fall survey results. The 2015 state average of 0.02 borers per plant is a minor reduction from the average of 0.03 borers per plant last year and the lowest since European corn borer surveys began in 1942. Levels of this once-primary corn pest have declined drastically since the 1996 commercial release of Bt corn, and to date there has been no evidence of corn borer Bt resistance.

SPOTTED WING DROSOPHILA - This invasive Asian vinegar fly was captured by UW-Madison researchers in 42 counties this season. Spotted wing drosophila (SWD) caused severe damage to the state's raspberries, forcing many berry producers to close fields and abandon their crops by mid- to late August. Since 2010, SWD has been found in over 50 of the state's 72 counties, from Kenosha in the southeast to Bayfield in the northwest. Economic loss projections for Wisconsin berry crops due to SWD were estimated at $1.3M last year.

EMERALD ASH BORER - DATCP expanded the EAB quarantine in 2015 to include Jackson and Marquette counties in central Wisconsin. New detections were also found in Green, Lafayette, Outagamie and Richland counties, which were already quarantined due to their close proximity to known EAB infestations. The EAB quarantine now includes 39 Wisconsin counties.

BROWN MARMORATED STINK BUG - Specimens were collected from 35 more sites this year, mostly in Dane, Brown and Milwaukee counties. The number of new cases in 2015 far surpasses the total of 18 confirmed reports in the previous five years combined (2010-2014). Based on the number of records originating from the Madison area, BMSB is presumed to be established in Dane County.

VIBURNUM LEAF BEETLE - The UW-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab confirmed the identification of viburnum leaf beetle (VLB) in four Milwaukee County locations this summer, approximately two miles from a previous 2014 detection site. Delimitation work conducted by DATCP inspectors found VLB infestations extending as far north as Mequon in southern Ozaukee County. These cases strongly suggest that reproducing populations of this invasive European beetle are present in southeastern Wisconsin. The first detection of VLB was in 2009 in Dane County, but circumstances in that initial find allowed for successful eradication.

-- Krista Hamilton, DATCP Entomologist