The flight of the Cameraria ohridella population in the city of Timisoara, Romania Fora C.G. 1*, Lauer K.F. 2, Fora Alina 1, Damianov Snejana 3, Moatăr Mihaela 1 1 Faculty of Horticulture and Forestry Timisoara; 2 University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan; 3 Faculty of Agriculture Timisoara *Corresponding author. Email: foraciprian@yahoo.com Abstract The aim of this paper is to fallow the flight dynamics of horse chestnut leaf-miner Cameraria ohridella in the parks of Timisoara city. Following the observations made by using of the sticky tetra-trap baited with synthetic pheromone AtraCam, it can be concluded that the harmful insect has three flights over all growing season, since middle of April (with ornamental chestnut flowering Aesculus hippocastanum) to the end of September. Maximum numbers of captured adults from one flight to another have an exponentially growing. During the research it is observed the preference of insect for solar heat in terms of flight and as the place chosen by the females to laying eggs. Thus, the preference for a part of the tree crown exposed to heat are obvious, especially at the first flight (over 83% of "mines" is on exhibition southern, western and eastern). At next flights due the increasing of air temperature the differences are not significant. Key words Cameraria ohridella, flight, Timisoara, parks After Perju et al. (9) the insect is originally from Asia. Extending species after Rakosy (9) in Europe began from two distinct expansion centers namely in Macedonia, where she was seen in 1984 and Austria in 1989. Hence, due to she s biology and due the low number of predators and parasitoids, is extending rapidly across Europe in next years. The main host plant of the moth is Aesculus hippocastanum. After Kukula and Hurej (4) the moth can be found, in a small extent, on the hybrid Aesculus x carnea to. The researches made by Freie et al., published in 4, show that the moth larvae do not survive on this hybrid, but a very powerful attack on the leafs almost 100% was observed on Acer pseudoplatanus and Acer platanoides. First flight of horse chestnut leaf-miner in the parks of Timisoara, the specimens from the generation that overwintering in the pupa stage, starting in the middle of April, the second in the second decade of May and the third in the second decade of July, earlier than some populations in Bulgaria observed by Subchev et al. (4) and relatively similar to some populations from Hungary. Knowing that the attack begins on leafs from the lower part of tree crown [3] and then spreads throughout in all tree crown, I made observations on the species preference for solar heat. Thus, it shows the number of the mines and arrangement of them on leafs, predominantly after the first flight, on southern exposition, western and eastern of the tree crown and only slightly over 16% of the exhibition leafs on northern. Materials and Methods The flight monitoring of the horse chestnut leaf-miner was made in two parks from Timisoara city where ornamental chestnut is in lines, in Axente Sever Square Park and USAMVBT Park. To monitoring, was used sticky tetra-trap baited with the synthetic pheromone AtraCam, three for each zone, on different trees, located at a distance of 20-30 meters between them. Install the traps was made early in April, before the beginning of the flight, on tree branches at the base of crown of host trees (figure 1). Periodically, throughout the all growth seasons were made observations of caught biological material (figure 2). At every observation the trap was cleaned up to prevent decreasing of the attractiveness of pheromone baits. Also, once of 30 days the baits was changed with other fresh ones. To underline the preference of the moth for heat, after the first and the second flight, it was harvested from the same tree 25 leafs aiming at cardinal points, in total 100 leaves for every flight. The mines were taken into account. For third flight the counting could not be done because many of mines immerged causing premature leafs drying. 197
Fig.1. Sticky tetra-trap baited with AtraCam Fig.2. Caught moths Obtained results During the all growing season the horse chestnut leaf-miner had three flights (figure 3 and 4), which has be taken in 156 days. The first flight began in the second decade of April and lasted 26 days. Maximum first flight was shortly after the beginning of this flight during 20-29 April. The maximum number of moths caught in a trap was 169. Intensive flight takes place around noon, at the crown base level and above the grass. The second flight began in the second decade of May, covers a longer period (63 days) and knows a maximum between June 17 and July 7. The maximum number of moths caught in a race was 487. Intensive flight takes place throughout the day with a maximum at noon and takes place in the entire crown. The same it is the third flight and began from the second decade of July, over 67 days, with a peak between July 30 and August 15. The maximum number of moths caught in a trap was 570. Flight ends in late September. 198
Cauth moth no. Caught moth no. Flight dynamic 450 400 350 300 250 Trap I Trap II Trap III 150 100 50 0 18.04. 20.04. 29.04. 06.05. 13.05. 10.06. 17.06. 24.06. 07.07. 15.07. 30.07. 07.08. 15.08. 21.08. 30.08. 10.09. 15.09. 20.09. Days Fig.3. Cameraria ohridella flight in Axente Sever Sqare park Flight dynamic 600 500 400 300 Trap I Trap II Trap III 100 0 18.04. 20.04. 29.04. 06.05. 13.05. 10.06. 17.06. 24.06. 01.07. 07.07. 15.07. 30.07. 07.08. 15.08. 21.08. 30.08. 10.09. 15.09. 20.09. Days Fig.4. Cameraria ohridella flight in U.S.A.M.V.B.T. park The flying of the moths is one agile and mating occurs on tree crown and tree stems or grass blanket. Immediately after mating females seek the most favorable places for oviposition future offspring to ensure the best living conditions. In the case of the moth Cameraria ohridella the females lay eggs on leaf surfaces which are most exposed to solar heat, a phenomenon clearly visible at first flight. In the order of preference (figure 5), resulting from observations, it can be said that the southern exhibition is most favorable (42%), followed by eastern and western exhibition (21 respectively 20%) and finally to the northern (17%). In the case of the second flight (figure 6) is amended in that situation although a preference for western and eastern exhibition be kept relatively constant, the northern exposure almost equals the southern. Explanation becomes from the fact that during the second flight the air temperature become higher and the differences of expose is canceled. Standardize the percentages are virtually throughout crown. 199
Mines no. distribution on lief 06.05. Vest 20% Nord 17% Est 21% Sud 42% Fig.5. Distribution in 06 May Mines no. distribution on lief 07.07. Vest 25% Nord 24% Sud 28% Est 23% Fig.6. Distribution in 07 July In climatic and attack conditions of the year 9, many of the defoliated trees have flowering twice in September. Conclusions Following the researches made in 9 in two parks from Timisoara city with Aesculus hippocastanum, regarding the flight of the horse chestnut leaf-miner Cameraria ohridella flight, we reached the next conclusions: - the moth has three flights on year, over 156 days; - first flight begins in the second decade of April and have a maximum during the period 20-29 April; - the second flight beginning in the second decade of May and have a maximum between June 17 and July 7; - the third flight begins in the second decade of July with a peak between July 30 and August 15; - the end of the flight is in late of September; - the flight of the moths is agile one, in the spring is on the base of the tree crown and over the grass and in summer in entire crown with a peak around noon; - the moth prefer the sun heat, the southern expoisure. References 1. Freise J., Heitland W., Sturm A., 4, Assessing the host plant range of the horsechestnut leaf miner, Cameraria ohridella Deschka & Dimić (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) - a hint to the origin of the moth?, 1 st International Cameraria Symposium:Cameraria ohridella and other leaf-miners in Europe, Prague, pp. 10
2. Kukuła-Młynarczyk A. and Hurej M., 4, Infestation of white (Aesculus hippocastanum L.) and red horse chestnut (Aesculus carnea H.) by the horse chestnut leafminer in Lower Silesia (Poland), 1 st International Cameraria Symposium: Cameraria ohridella and other leaf-miners in Europe, Prague, pp. 21 3. Lupi, D., Jucker, C., 4, Method to quantify Cameraria ohridella leaf damages on Aesculus hippocastanum using image analysis, 1 st International Cameraria Symposium: Cameraria ohridella and other leaf-miners in Europe, Prague, pg. 29-31 4. Perju T., Bodiş Ilonka, Crişan Mihaela, Teodor A., 9, Phytophagous invertebrates, listed and unlisted with plant protection quarantine status, neobiota in Romania, Neobiota din Romania, Presa Universitară Clujeană, Cluj-Napoca, pg. 114-123 5. Rakosy L., 9, Lepidoptera (Butterfly and Moths), Neobiota din Romania, Presa Universitară Clujeană, Cluj-Napoca, pg. 166-173 6. Subchev M., Albena Mircheva, Boyan H., Rumen T., 4, Phenology of Cameraria ohridella Deschka & Dimić (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) in Bulgaria, 1 st International Cameraria Symposium: Cameraria ohridella and other leaf-miners in Europe, Prague, pp. 40. 201