We estimated and described the arthropod fauna on purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) plants in northeastern Illinois wetlands. A total of 1063 individual arthropods were collected—930 insects and 133 arachnids. The av- erage number of arthropods ranged from 19.00 to 86.75 individuals per loos- estrife plants of a single root crown. We collected individuals from twenty-five families representing 8 orders of insects. Miridae, Anthocoridae, Lygaeidae, Cicadellidae, and Aphididae were each represented by at least 50 individuals. Three orders and ten families were found that had not been previously reported as occurring on purple loosestrife, but many of these taxa were represented by only a few individuals

Maddox, J. Dylan

Wiedenmann, Robert N

English

ValpoScholar

The Great Lakes Entomologist 
Volume 36 
Numbers 1 & 2 - Spring/Summer 2003 Numbers 
1 & 2 - Spring/Summer 2003 
Article 13 
April 2003 
Arthropods Associated With Purple Loosestrife in Illinois 
Wetlands 
J. Dylan Maddox 
University of Illinois 
Robert N. Wiedenmann 
Illinois Natural History Survey 
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Illinois Wetlands," The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 36 (1) 
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2003 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST 93
ARTHROPODS ASSOCIATED WITH PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE IN
ILLINOIS WETLANDS
J. Dylan Maddox1, 3  and Robert N. Wiedenmann2
ABSTRACT
We estimated and described the arthropod fauna on purple loosestrife
(Lythrum salicaria) plants in northeastern Illinois wetlands.  A total of 1063
individual arthropods were collected—930 insects and 133 arachnids.  The av-
erage number of arthropods ranged from 19.00 to 86.75 individuals per loos-
estrife plants of a single root crown.  We collected individuals from twenty-five
families representing 8 orders of insects.  Miridae, Anthocoridae, Lygaeidae,
Cicadellidae, and Aphididae were each represented by at least 50 individuals.
Three orders and ten families were found that had not been previously reported
as occurring on purple loosestrife, but many of these taxa were represented by
only a few individuals.
____________________
INTRODUCTION
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria L., Lythraceae)—an herbaceous pe-
rennial of Eurasian origin—is an invasive weed of North American wetlands
that was introduced to the eastern seaboard in the early 1800s (Stuckey 1980).
Enhanced by the absence of natural enemies and frequent disturbances of natu-
ral systems (Malecki et al. 1993), purple loosestrife rapidly spread across North
America during the 20th century, and currently inhabits wetlands throughout
the northern half of the United States and southern Canada (Stuckey 1980,
Thompson et al. 1987).  Commonly considered a serious threat to North Ameri-
can wetlands (Stuckey 1980, Thompson et al. 1987), purple loosestrife has been
the target of a biological control program in North America (Blossey et al. 2001),
because indigenous arthropods have been unable to control loosestrife popula-
tions.  Although arthropod species compositions on purple loosestrife have been
reported, abundances of those arthropods have not been estimated in North
American habitats where purple loosestrife is common.  Consequently, our ob-
jective was to estimate and describe the arthropod fauna associated with purple
loosestrife in Illinois wetlands.
METHODS & MATERIALS
Field studies were conducted in the Lake Calumet Industrial Corridor,
Cook County, Illinois.  The area contains numerous wetlands of various sizes (5
ha to 120 ha) scattered among the prominent industries that dominate the
area.  Our study sites were located in two different wetlands: Indian Ridge
Marsh (24 ha) and Hyde Lake Marsh (16 ha).  Indian Ridge Marsh (N41º40’,
W87º33’) was dominated by purple loosestrife, except for a small patch (≈  200
m2) of cattail (Typha spp., Typhaceae).  Hyde Lake (N41º39’, W87º32’), located
approximately 1 km east of Indian Ridge Marsh, contained both purple loos-
estrife and cattail in separate, but generally equal, areas.
1Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of
Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801.
2Center for Economic Entomology, Illinois Natural History Survey, 607 E. Peabody
Dr., Champaign, IL 61820.
3Current address: Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of
Illinois, 606 E. Healey St., Champaign, IL 61820. Email: jmaddox@uiuc.edu.
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Maddox and Wiedenmann: Arthropods Associated With Purple Loosestrife in Illinois Wetland
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94 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST Vol. 36, Nos. 1 & 2
We sampled arthropods on sunny and calm (wind speed less than ≈  10
kph) days from purple loosestrife at Hyde Lake on 4 Aug 2000 and 29 June
2001, and at Indian Ridge Marsh on 26 July 2000 and 24 July 2001.  In areas
dominated by purple loosestrife, arthropods were collected via beat-cloth sam-
pling.  Purple loosestrife plants are often found clustered on slightly elevated
root crowns.  Consequently, we randomly chose a single root crown (≈  0.25 m2),
bent over all the loosestrife stems associated with that root crown, and thor-
oughly beat them.  Dislodged arthropods were collected on a 0.75 m2 cloth frame,
aspirated, and stored in ethanol.  This sampling technique likely excluded highly
mobile arthropods that could fly or jump away from the cloth frame before we
were able to collect them.  For each sampling date, four root crowns were sampled;
except at Indian Ridge Marsh in 2000 when 5 root crowns were sampled.  Insect
individuals were identified to order or family.  Arachnid individuals were not
further identified.  We pooled each of the 4 or 5 samples obtained from each site
separately by year, resulting in four sampling units.  Analysis of variance
(ANOVA) was used to determine whether arthropod abundances were signifi-
cantly different between sites and years.  Pairwise comparisons were assessed
using Tukey-Kramer HSD.  Results were considered significant at P ≤ 0.05.  All
arthropods collected during this study have been deposited in the arthropod
collection of the Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, IL.
RESULTS
Arthropod abundance was highly variable among taxa (Table 1).  The
average number of arthropods per root crown ranged from 19.00 at Hyde Lake in
2001 to 86.75 at Indian Ridge Marsh in 2001 (Table 1).  Arthropod abundances
were significantly different among the four sampling dates (F = 10.78, df = 3, 13,
P < 0.01; Fig. 1).  Tukey-Kramer HSD test revealed that arthropods were signifi-
cantly less abundant at Hyde Lake in 2001.
Figure 1. Average number of arthropods (± 1 SE) per root crown of purple loosestrife
at Indian Ridge and Hyde Lake in 2000 and 2001.
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2003 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST 95
Table 1. Average number of arthropods per purple loosestrife root crown for each
taxon collected at Hyde Lake and Indian Ridge in 2000 and 2001.  Taxa stages were
classified as adult (A) or immature (I).  Taxa not reported by other studies are
indicated with an asterisk.
            Indian Ridge                  Hyde Lake
Taxon Stage 2000 2001 2000 2001 Total
Collembola* 3.00 2.75 0.25 0.00 27
Psocoptera* I 1.40 0.00 0.00 0.00 7
A 0.40 0.50 0.00 0.00 4
Thysanoptera
Thripidae A 3.20 1.00 1.25 0.00 25
Hemiptera
Miridae I 18.00 34.50 14.00 0.75 287
A 0.00 3.25 0.00 0.00 13
Lygaeidae I 1.00 0.50 4.00 0.00 23
A 0.00 14.75 0.25 0.00 60
Anthocoridae I 1.40 1.50 24.50 0.00 111
A 2.00 7.50 5.25 0.50 63
Nabidae A 0.00 0.50 0.00 0.00 2
Pyrrhocoridae* I 0.00 2.25 0.00 0.50 11
Homoptera
Cicadellidae I 9.00 2.25 4.75 0.50 75
Aphididae I 9.20 0.00 2.00 0.00 54
A 0.40 0.25 0.00 0.00 3
Neuroptera*
Chrysopidae I 0.20 0.75 0.75 0.00 7
Coleoptera
Chrysomelidae A 0.00 1.50 0.25 8.00 39
Curculionidae A 0.00 0.00 0.25 0.50 3
Coccinellidae I 1.60 0.00 0.50 0.00 10
A 0.00 0.00 0.50 0.25 3
Staphylinidae A 0.20 0.00 0.25 0.00 2
Lampyridae* A 0.20 0.00 0.00 0.00 1
Bruchidae* A 0.20 2.50 0.00 1.25 16
Cleridae* A 0.20 0.00 0.25 0.00 2
unknown A 1.20 0.75 0.50 0.25 12
Lepidoptera
Geometridae I 0.60 1.00 10.00 0.00 47
Noctuidae I 0.80 0.00 0.50 0.50 8
Lymantriidae I 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.25 1
Arctiidae I 0.00 0.00 0.50 0.00 2
unknown I 0.40 0.00 0.50 0.00 4
Diptera*
Culicidae A 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.25 1
Cecidomyiidae A 0.20 0.00 0.00 0.00 1
Stratiomyidae A 0.00 0.00 0.25 0.00 1
Hymenoptera
Ichneumonidae* A 0.00 0.50 0.00 0.00 2
Formicidae* A 0.20 0.00 0.00 0.00 1
unknown A 0.20 0.00 0.25 0.00 2
Class Arachnida
unknown 7.00 8.25 10.75 5.50 133
Totalsa 311 347 329 76 1063
aNote: Each sampling date consisted of 4 samples except for Indian Ridge in 2000
when 5 samples were collected.
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Maddox and Wiedenmann: Arthropods Associated With Purple Loosestrife in Illinois Wetland
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96 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST Vol. 36, Nos. 1 & 2
We collected a total of 1063 individual arthropods, comprising 930 insects
and 133 arachnids.  Individuals from twenty-five families representing 10 or-
ders of insects were collected.  The 5 most common taxa (in decreasing order)
were Hemiptera (570 individuals; comprised 53.6% of all individuals), Arach-
nida (133; 12.5%), Homoptera (132; 12.5%), Coleoptera (88; 8.3%), and Lepi-
doptera (62; 5.8%).  Specimens of Psocoptera, Neuroptera, Diptera, and Hy-
menoptera were also collected, but each order totaled fewer than 15 individuals.
Frequently encountered insect families (i.e., > 50 individuals) included Miridae,
Anthocoridae, Lygaeidae, Cicadellidae, and Aphididae.
Three orders—Collembola, Psocoptera, and Neuroptera—and 10 fami-
lies—Pyrrhocoridae, Chrysopidae, Lampyridae, Bruchidae, Cleridae, Culicidae,
Cecidomyiidae, Stratiomyidae, Ichneumonidae, and Formicidae—had not been
previously reported on purple loosestrife in the literature (Table 1).  Many of
these taxa, however, were represented by only one or two individuals.
DISCUSSION
A diversity of native arthropods was found on purple loosestrife in Illinois,
though few were herbivores.  Of the 10 most numerous taxa (nine insect families
and the class Arachnida) found on purple loosestrife plants, the Anthocoridae
and Arachnida are predaceous and the Miridae are facultatively predaceous
(Alomar and Wiedenmann 1996).  Although many other taxa collected were
herbivores, those summed to fewer than 70 individuals per root crown of several
large loosestrife plants.  Further, 27% of all individual arthropods collected
were minute (< 10 mm) mirids which although herbivorous, were neither numer-
ous enough nor significant enough to affect loosestrife plants.  Where releases of
Galerucella spp. (Chrysomelidae) have impacted the fitness of purple loosestrife,
feeding by a minimum of several hundred to thousands of beetles per plant was
needed before an impact on the plant was observed (R.N. Wiedenmann, personal
observation).  Thus, the densities of native herbivores we observed are most
likely insufficient to affect purple loosestrife populations.
Abundances of arthropods were significantly lower at Hyde Lake in 2001
than other sampling dates, though those difference were likely not a result of
floral diversity.  A prescribed burn was conducted at Hyde Lake prior to the
2001 field season, which almost completely burned cattail, whereas purple loos-
estrife only partially burned.  This disturbance likely accounted for the reduced
arthropod abundances in Hyde Lake during 2001.  Temporal variation could
also have explained this difference, because samples in 2001 were collected at
Hyde Lake a month earlier than at Indian Ridge.
Observations of the diversity of arthropods on purple loosestrife in its
native Europe revealed 120 species (67 families and 10 orders) of herbivorous
insects associated with purple loosestrife (Batra et al. 1986), as compared to
the 25 families in 10 orders collected from two sites in our study.  A similar
study in North America (Hight 1990) found 60 phytophagous insect species
representing 5 orders, 22 families, and 55 genera on purple loosestrife in New
York, Maryland, and Massachusetts, which is comparable to what we found.
Diehl et al. (1997) collected 63 genera (38 families, seven orders, and approxi-
mately 80 species) of insect herbivores in purple loosestrife habitats in south-
ern Manitoba, Canada; one genus was that of the two introduced biocontrol
agents, Galerucella pusilla Duft and G. calmariensis L.
Additionally, there are several anecdotal reports of arthropods feeding on
purple loosestrife. In the Hudson River Valley, New York, native Lepidoptera
(Saturniidae) larvae of Hyalophora cecropia (L.), Antheraea polyphemus (Cram.),
and Automeris io (F.) were found on purple loosestrife; and 4th and 5th instar H.
cecropia and A. polyphemus preferred purple loosestrife over gray dogwood (Cornus
racemosa (Lam.), Cornaceae), a native woody host in wet meadows (Barbour and
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2003 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST 97
Kiviat 1997).  Finally, the introduced Lymantria dispar L. (Lymantriidae) has
been observed feeding on purple loosestrife in Michigan, and 2nd and 3rd in-
stars of L. dispar have been successfully reared on purple loosestrife in the
laboratory (Sebolt and Landis 1999).
The numbers of arthropods seen on purple loosestrife in our study may
have been limited by the presence and abundance of congeneric plants from
which native arthropods might have originated.  Herbivorous insects associated
with introduced Quercus spp. (Fagaceae) exhibited higher abundances in habi-
tats that contained native Quercus spp. than did habitats without related spe-
cies (Connor et al. 1980).  Seven species of native Lythraceae occur in Illinois:
Decodon verticillatus (L.) Ell., Cuphea petiolata (L.) Koehne, Lythrum alatum
Pursh, Peplis diandra (Nutt. ex DC.) Wood, Rotala ramosior (L.) Koehne,
Ammannia coccinea Rottb., and A. auriculata Willd. (Heineke 1977).  L. alatum,
the only native Lythrum spp. in Illinois, is relatively uncommon, and we are not
aware of studies of the native arthropod fauna associated with L. alatum.  Purple
loosestrife may significantly reduce L. alatum populations through displace-
ment and/or pollinator competition (Brown and Mitchell 2001) which may even
result in local extirpation of L. alatum.  Thus, there are few congeners from
which native arthropods might move.  The other species of Lythraceae also are
not common in the wetlands containing purple loosestrife; hence, it seems un-
likely in Illinois that there are sufficient arthropods on related plants to add
purple loosestrife to their host range.  Still the dearth in numbers and small
sizes of most arthropods collected suggest that purple loosestrife does not sup-
port sufficient levels of arthropod biomass to control loosestrife populations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Rebecca Bors, Jenni Farley, Laura Hilstrom, and Erin Smith provided
field assistance in the wetlands.  Rodrigo Diaz, Jose Camilo, Maria Bravo,
Rami Kfir, and Angela Kerber also assisted during this study.  Doris Lagos
identified the arthropods collected. Housing for the 2000 field season was kindly
provided by the Kashanitz family.  Funding was provided by the Illinois Natural
History Survey, Chicago Department of Environment, and two Kendeigh Memo-
rial Funds (Champaign County Audubon Society).  This paper was submitted in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for a M. S. degree by J. D. Maddox at the
University of Illinois in Urbana–Champaign.
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Barbour, J. G. and E. Kiviat. 1997. Introduced purple loosestrife as host of native
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Arthropods Associated With Purple Loosestrife in Illinois Wetlands

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Arthropods Associated With Purple Loosestrife in Illinois Wetlands

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