(updated Sept 15, 2015, to correct identification of plant)
Today we revisited a site in the Gatineau Park where Master's student Chelsea Kealey found three lily leaf beetle eggs on twistedstalk Streptopus lanceolatus in 2013 (which we had mis-identified as Streptopus amplexifolius). I thought this 2013 observation might simply be the result of one lost female dumping eggs on the closest thing to a lily it could find. It turns out there is an established lily beetle population on twistedstalk in the Park. Today we found several plants with eggs or larvae, and one female laying eggs.
New Master's student Chelsey Blackman (below) will be studying whether our biocontrol agent Tetrastichus setifer can find the lily beetle when it is on plants other than lilies. Herbivores expanding their host range by moving onto novel host plants can escape their natural enemies, which are sometimes hard-wired to search for the herbivore on the original plant. Will the lily leaf beetle evade Tetrastichus setifer by moving into the forest and onto twisted stalk? Stay tuned...
Today we revisited a site in the Gatineau Park where Master's student Chelsea Kealey found three lily leaf beetle eggs on twistedstalk Streptopus lanceolatus in 2013 (which we had mis-identified as Streptopus amplexifolius). I thought this 2013 observation might simply be the result of one lost female dumping eggs on the closest thing to a lily it could find. It turns out there is an established lily beetle population on twistedstalk in the Park. Today we found several plants with eggs or larvae, and one female laying eggs.
New Master's student Chelsey Blackman (below) will be studying whether our biocontrol agent Tetrastichus setifer can find the lily beetle when it is on plants other than lilies. Herbivores expanding their host range by moving onto novel host plants can escape their natural enemies, which are sometimes hard-wired to search for the herbivore on the original plant. Will the lily leaf beetle evade Tetrastichus setifer by moving into the forest and onto twisted stalk? Stay tuned...
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