Reznik S.Ya., Spasskaya I.A., Dolgovskaya M.Y., Volkovitsh M.G., Zaitzev V.F. 2008. The ragweed leaf beetle Zygogramma suturalis F. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in Russia: current distribution, abundance, and implication for biological control of common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. In: Proc. of the XII Intern. Symp. On Biological Control of Weeds (eds. Julien M.H. et al.). CABI, Wallingford, UK , pp. 614-619.

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The ragweed leaf beetle, Zygogramma suturalis F. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) was introduced to Russia in 1978 against the common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. By 1985 it successfully acclimated and suppressed ragweed in the original release site and several neighboring fields. However, because of crop rotation its population density drastically decreased. In 2005-2006, we conducted selective quantitative sampling in Southern Russia. The results showed that the ragweed leaf beetle was distributed over an area of about 50,000 km2 in  Krasnodar territory, west of Stavropol’ territory, and south of Rostov province, i.e., most of the area heavily infested by ragweed in Russia. However, the average Z. suturalis population density was very low: ca 0.001 adults/m2 in crop rotations and ca 0.1 adults/m2 in more stable habitats, although in a few of the studied plots up to 2–3 adults/m2 were recorded. As for common ragweed, average percent cover in crop rotations and in stable habitats was ca 1% and ca 40%, correspondingly. A detectable level of host plant damage (≥ 5%) was recorded only in a few plots. The observed spatial variation of the Z. sututalis population density was mostly determined by the host plant abundance. The last was strongly dependent on the stability of the habitat, being much higher in stable habitats. Thus, it is still possible that stable protected field nurseries could be a promising method of Z. suturalis propagation for biological control of ragweed in surrounding locations.

Key words: weeds, biocontrol, post-release evaluation