Cottrell, C. B.

English

Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia

AS KWO:\ WLUGI CM . S On ET)' OF BIl ! T I::l H COL\.; .\1 RI. .. . PROt' . (1959), VOL. 56, No\'. 4, 1959 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE POPLAR AND WILLOW BORER, Sternochetus lapathi (L.), IN BRITISH COLUMBIA' By C. B. COTTRELl. The poplar and willow borer, ster-nochetus lapathi (L.), introduced from Europe, was first observed in North America in 1882, when a single specimen was collected in New York (Herrick, 1935). During the next 20 years the weevil was observed in many localities in the northeastern United States (Matheson , 1917) . In 1906, the first Canadian records were taken at three localities in Ontario (Cosens, 1912), and in 1908, Carolina poplars were attacked at Dundurn , Saskatchewan (Fletcher and Gibson, 1908). Between 1909 and 1916, occur-rences were reported from many widely separated pOints in Ontario, and at Montreal , Quebec (Caesar, 1916) . The first known record of the pop-lar and willow borer in the Pacific Northwest was at. Vernon, where in 1923, the late Col. A. E. Parlow col-lected a specimen. In 1924, poplar and willow trees in the Tourist Park at Kelowna were found to be infested, followed by reports of infestations at Penticton in 1932 and Summerland in 1934. The weevil's widespread distri-bution in the Okanagan Valley sug-gests that it was probably well established before these dates. Other early records in the west were: Priest River, Idaho (P. C. John-ston, in !itt.) and Tacoma, Washing-ton, 1931 (M. H. Hatch, in litt.) and near Portland, Oregon in 1933 (Fur-niss, 1939). A report of the borer's occurrence at Riske Creek in the Chilcotin area appears in the 1931 edition of the Canadian Insect Pest Review. For several reasons this record seems questionable: no specimen was taken; the host, trembling aspen (E. R. Buckell, in litt.) , is unusual; and no weevil activity has been recorded in this area before or since. 1 Contribution No. 555, Forest Biology Division, Research Branch, Department of Agriculture , Ot-tawa, Canada. 2 Forest Biology Laboratory, Vernon, B.C. On the Lower Mainland of British Columbia the first damage report came from a Vancouver garden in 1930, although it was stated in the Annual Report of the Forest Insect Laboratory at Vernon (W. G. Mathers, 1930), that the insect's presence had been known in this area for at least three years. In 1933 willows were at-tacked in Stanley Park, in 1934 at Green Timbers, and on Sumas Prairie in 1936. Few infestations were recorded from 1936 to 1946, but in the period 1947 to 1949, with the expansion of the Forest Insect Survey staff, many new locality records were established : Chilliwack, Yale and Pitt Lake, 1947; Seymour Creek and Hope, 1948; Sur-rey, Allouette Lake, and Chehalis River, 1949. This indicates that the weevil was distributed throughout the Fraser Valley prior to 1947. On Vancouver Island, four records were obtained in 1948: Nanaimo, Coleman Creek, Port Alberni and Cowichan Lake. Dr. M. Hatch of the University of Washington apparently has the first Kootenay record - a specimen col-lected at Creston in 1941; otherwise very little is known about the weevil's activities there before 1949. That year, numerous specimens were collected around the west arm of Kootenay Lake in the following localities: Queens Bay, Balfour, Kokanee, Nel-son and Harrop. In 1951 several col-lections were made between Castlegar and Trail, and on the east side of Kootenay Lake at Crawford Bay. In 1952, damage was noted around the north end of Kootenay Lake and at Grand Forks in the Kettle Valley. In 1953, attacks were observed at Nak-usp and Arrowhead, and at Kimberley and Bull River in the East Kootenay. Weevil attacks have continued in most of the above-mentioned infesta-tions and in each successive year new locali ty records were obtained: Slocan I .... ./ . " .J ; •. , .. ,; r' ' ) ./ ~ , .J i ' ·t ..... :"' · ,-J 1" •• z o z .. ~ . •• >. . ' U')~.. I Q. • o ' o • • I ...J , . ~ « x: cU ;E e ::l '0 u .s:: :E .t; ~ .S .t: .. .. c. !! .. ;) .. • .t: u o c .. • ..en 4i ·18 ~~:XTO\lnLn'~ I L" , SOC' IETY OF n1lTT1SlI CO l.l ' \I IlT.\, PH"' , II~iifl), VIlI .. iifl , N,l\' , 4 , I fl5!l City and Natal, 1955; Revelstoke and Edgewood , 1956; Canal Flats, 1957; and Invermere, 1958. At least four major infestations have occurred in British Columbia. At Sumas Prairie in 1936, approxi-mately 12 years after Sumas Lake was drained , R. Glendenning reports, "this insect was so abundant on the several willow species that it effected some measure of control." By 1937, thousands of young willows had been killed . A stem sample, two and one half inches in diameter and two feet long contained 175 adults (H. G. FUl-ton, in litt.) . At Tranquille in 1958, an estimat-ed 250 acres of mature willows, Salix sp ., were killed . On Creston Flats at the south end of Kootenay Lake, many willows, Salix spp., and black cottonwood, Populus trichocarpa , have been dam-aged. All willows in a square mile area two miles northeast of Hope were hea vily damaged and many trees were killed in 1958. Tree mortality also occurred at other pOints in the Fra-ser River Valley. Al though poplars and willows were attacked at Kelowna in 1924, native willow was the only known host in the Lower Mainland until 1939. In 1939, a black cottonwood was attack-ed at Vancouver, while ornamental willows were attacked in a nursery at Sumas. In the interior of British Columbia , Sitka alder, Alnus sinuata, has been infested at Celista, Sica-mous and Brilliant, and moun tain alder, Alnus tenuijolia, at Taghum. Occasionally weeping willow, Salix babylonica and Lombardy poplar, Populus nigra, have been infested but to date attacks on trembling aspen , Populus tremuloides, are rare . Although the weevil is most num-erous at low elevations in valleys or along waterways, where its favoured hosts are usually found, several col-lections have been made at high alti-tudes. In 1953, S. Hicks collected a specimen trom willow in Garibaldi Park at the 3100 foot level (G. J. Spencer, in litt.). Near McCulloch , Sitka alders were attacked at 4100 feet elevation in 195H. In Hl46, G, Stace-Smith collected a specimen from under a stone on the summit of a mountain near Creston, at an ele-vation of 'i147 feet . During the 36 years since the pop-lar and willow borer was first detect-ed in British Columbia, this intro-duced species has become well established across the southern por-tion of the Province. (Fig. 1). Native willows and black cottonwood are its favoured hosts but it is also known to attack mountain and Sitka alders and several cultivated varieties of poplars and willows. There is not sufficient evidence to draw any definite conclusion about the source of the original borer population in British Columbia. The borer's appearance in several local-ities in the Okanagan Valley in the 1920's, and in Vancouver in the 1930's, within a period of four years indicates that there may have been two separate introductions. The ab-sence of Alberta and Montana rec-ords and the borer's early detection in British Columbia as compared with Idaho and Washington, may indicate that its entrance into this province was not the result of a natural spread from surrounding territory. Unless otherwise stated, all data in this paper are from the files of the Forest Biology Laboratories at Ver-non and Victoria . References Caesar, L. ,(1916) The Imported Willow and Poplar Borer or CurcuJio, Cryptorhynchus lapathr (L.). Ann. Rept. Ent. Soc. Ontario 46 (1915): 33-43. Cosens, A. (1912) Division No.3. Toronto District , Ann. Rept. Ent. Soc. Ontario 42 (1911) : 15. Furniss, R. L. (1939) Insects Attacking Forest Products and Shade Trees in Washington and Oregon in 1937. Proceedings Ent. Soc. British Columbia 35 (1939): 5, Fletcher, J . and A. Gibson (1909) Entomological Reccrd 1908, Ann. Rept. Ent. Soc. Ontario 39 (1908): 109. Herrick, G. W. (1935) Insect Enemies of Shade·Trees. Comstock Co. , lthaca. N.Y, Matheson, R. (1917) The Poplar and Willow Borer , Cornell University, Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 388. 4!18 , 

A brief history of the poplar and willow borer, Sternochetus lapathi (L), in British Columbia

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A brief history of the poplar and willow borer, Sternochetus lapathi (L), in British Columbia

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Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia