Developmental Threshold Temperature and Effective Accumulative Tem- perature of Pupae and Eggs of Holcocerus hippophaecolus

In order to understand the occurrence and the developmental regularity of seabuckthorn carpenterworm (Holcocerus hippophaecolus) and predict its population density, the developmental threshold temperature (C) and effective accumulative tem- perature (K) of the carpenterworm pupae and eggs were analyzed under the conditions of constant and variable temperatures. The results show that the values of C and K of the carpenterworm pupae are (12.1 ± 0.2) °C and (295.2 ± 4.1) day-degrees at constant temperatures, and (15.5 ± 0.4) °C and (202.4 ± 13.1) day-degrees at variable temperatures. However, the values of C and K of the eggs at variable temperatures are (16.7 ± 0.8) °C and (101.5 ± 12.6) day-degrees. The differences of developmental threshold and effective accumulative temperature under the conditions of constant and variable temperatures of the carpenterworm pupae accord with the developmental regularity of most insects in nature. By comparing five different constant temperatures, the conclusion is that the optimum developmental temperature of the pupae is 21 °C when both the pupation of the mature larvae and the eclosion of the pupae are very accordant. Moreover, the percentage of eclosion is over 90%. The average developmental durations of the carpenter- worm pupae and eggs are 31 and 16 d at variable temperatures.

Methodological comparison of DNA extraction from Holcocerrus hippophaecolus (Lepidoptera: Cossidae) for AFLP analysis

Amplified fragment length polymorphism （AFLP） is a powerful DNA fingerprinting technique for studying genetic relationships and genetic diversity in insects. However, the crucial prerequisite for AFLP analysis is to extract DNA of high quality. In this study, we evaluate four different protocols （SDS method, improved SDS method, CTAB method and a complex method with SDS and CTAB） for isolating DNA from the seabuckthorn carpenter moth （Holcocerrus hippophaecolus （Lepidoptera： Cossidae））. The results indicate that the CTAB method does not produce DNA suitable for AFLP analysis. The SDS method and the complex method with SDS and CTAB are comparatively time-consuming and resulted in low yields of DNA and were therefore not used for AFLP assay. The improved SDS method is recommended for preparing DNA templates from H. hippophaecolus for AFLP analysis.

Spatial distribution of Holcocerus hippophaecolus (Lepidoptera: Cossidae) pupae in a seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) stand

The seabuckthorn carpenter moth,Holcocerus hippophaecolus,which has a generation time of four years,is recently becoming one of the major pests of the seabuckthorn(Hippophae rhamnoides)in Inner Mongolia,Liaoning,Shanxi,Ningxia and Shaanxi of China(Hua et al.,1990).The larvae of the H.hippophaecolus mainly damage the stems and roots of the seabuckthorn,and the mature larvae pupate in the soil.The spatial distribution of the pupae was analyzed by using biostatistics and geostatistics in order to effectively control the insect and further study the spatial distribution of the population.Results show that most of the pupae(90%)had an eclosion time span from early June to the end of July.The sex ratio of the pupae was nearly 1:1 in the woodland samples.In addition,24.3%of the 971 trees investigated had pupae and it ranged from 0 to 4 per tree within a distance of 1.3 m from the base of the stem.90%of the pupae were aggregated within a distance of 1 m from the base of the stem.The pupae show intense spatial aggregation in the sampled woodland which had an 11.1 m spatial dependence and a 90.7%intensity in the local spatial continuity.Moreover,the population presented an intensive spotted distribution and many aggregated spots were found in the woodlands.As for the relationship between grid size and variogram of the pupae,the variations in the range,the intensity of local spatial continuity and the sill were all very low or non-existent when the grid size was 5 m,6 m or 7 m.Whereas,the value of the decisive coefficient was the biggest when the grid size was 5 m making it the ideal grid size.