Agriotes ustulatus (lat. Agriotes ustulatus)

Agriotes ustulatus is most common in some parts of central Europe where it is often regarded as an agricultural pest. This region includes France, Switzerland, Austria, northern Italy, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and the Netherlands. It is also found in surrounding countries like Croatia, Romania, northern Spain, Denmark, Lithuania and Estonia. In some other parts of Europe and western Asia, it may be rare or even listed as endangered. For example, it has been

only occasionally reported, from countries in the far north like southern Finland, from Turkey or Iran in the south and from western Russia in the east. Within a specific country and area the distribution of A. ustulatus is often highly clustered, apparently dependent on environmental factors like temperature, rainfall, soil conditions or crop and vegetation patterns.

The length of Agriotes ustulatus adults ranges from 7 to 13 mm, average 10 mm. Compared to other species of Agriotes found in Europe, they can be identified by a combination of different morphological features, mainly on the pronotum, the elytra and the antennae: The pronotum has a characteristic surface structure and the hairs on the lower middle part are arranged in a way that they point to one spot above the hind margin, see the

arrow on the image at the far right. The base of the elytra near the scutellum have elongated pits, see arrows on the first image at the right. The 4th antennal segment is clearly longer than the 2nd segment. The color of the elytra is variable and is typically either light brown with the tips often darker or completely dark brown to black. All A. ustulatus populations contain mixtures of these two color forms. However, intermediate colors also

exist. Studies in two areas, one in northern Italy and the other in the Czech Republic, found the percentage of dark forms on average to be 40% and 32% respectively, independent of the gender of the beetles. Before applying pesticides to infestations of Agriotes larvae (wireworms) in Europe, it is required to determine whether the population exceeds the damage threshold which varies from species to species. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the species causing the

infestation. Agriotes ustulatus larvae can be identified by a combination of morphological features which are illustrated at the left. The most reliable character is the presence of dark elevated tubercles around the base of the setae at the tip of the larval abdomen, the 9th abdominal segment (figure a). Other distinguishing features are the shape of the right mandible that usually forms a large angle (clearly more than 90°) between the tip and the subapical

tooth (figure b). However, this angle is variable and is only 90° in about 15% of the larvae. Further, the shape of the frontoclypeus on the head is characteristic (figures c and d). It forms an angle as indicated on figure c that is slightly above 90° in 99.5% of the larvae, in contrast to other Agriotes species. Molecular identification of the larvae is also reliable.

Agriotes ustulatus females lay their eggs into the top 10 cm of the soil during the summer, in total about 80 eggs per female. The larvae emerge after approximately 3 weeks and start feeding on germinating seeds and roots. They are polyphagous and can feed on grasses or crops like maize, sugar beet, sunflower, wheat or potatoes. In the case of maize, mainly the seeds are attacked, but in other plants the roots and the

base of the plants are damaged. Young seedlings are preferred. However, the larvae are not feeding continuously and the periods of active feeding only amount to about 20% of the total larval life time. In northern Italy, there are 11 to 13 larval instars and the life cycle is completed in two years. However, in countries further north, the life cycle extends over 3 to 4 years and the larvae burrow deeper into the soil

for overwintering. The larvae pupate in spring, typically in the upper soil layers. The pupal stage lasts for about 2 weeks and the adults emerge and are mainly active during the summer. The adults are not harmful to crops and feed on weeds, often on the flowers of plants from the family Apiaceae. Usually, the life span of A. ustulatus adults is short, but they overwinter in some areas by digging into the soil.

Agriotes ustulatus females produce the pheromone (E,E)-farnesyl acetate that attracts males and can be used for monitoring pest populations. The pheromone traps are installed at soil level. They are species-specific and have been used in several countries for monitoring, although they are only attractive over relatively short distances (< 50 m) and the lure lasts for only a few days in the field. The pheromone traps are used, for example, to determine whether pesticide treatments

are justified because trap catches correlate with subsequent crop damage of wireworms in maize fields. A lure for female A. ustulatus beetles has been also developed and consists of a mixture of the floral compounds (E)-anethol and (E)-cinnamaldehyde. If the above pheromone is added to the floral lure, the number of females caught increases dramatically and the traps catch males in addition to females, equivalent to pheromone traps. Bait traps for catching Agriotes larvae in the soil

have been also described. These consist of a plastic container, 10 cm wide, with holes at the bottom that contain moistened vermiculite and wheat plus maize seeds. The traps are placed into the soil about 5 cm below the surface and examined after 10 days. In contrast to the pheromone traps, these traps are not specific to certain wireworm species and the catches need to be sorted and identified.

A large number of synonym names have been published for Agriotes ustulatus. In addition, several varieties or subspecies are often listed. The many names are apparently due to the variable coloration of A. ustulatus, its common occurrence across Europe, and the poorly studied taxonomy of the very large genus Agriotes. Apart from the basionym, Elater ustulatus Schaller 1783, four other synonym names are listed most often for A. ustulatus: Elater blandus Germar 1824 - In his

book "Coleopterum species novae aut minus cognitus" (new or little-known beetle species), Germar described Elater blandus from Halle, Germany as one of 32 Elater species. Unlike the description by Schaller, Germar's description does not include a comparison to previously described species. Agriotes gilvellus Lacordaire 1835 - In his description of the insects from the vicinity of Paris, Lacordaire also did not compare Agriotes gilvellus with related species and did not mention the species ustulatus. Agriotes confusus Bach

1854 - In his description of beetles from north and central Germany, Bach described Agriotes confusus as a new species, comparing it to Elater ustulus Schönherr, 1817 (another synonym of A. ustulatus) and Agriotes gilvellus, two names which he regarded as not valid and only as "Sammlungsnamen" (collection names). Elater ustulatus or Agriotes ustulatus is not mentioned in his description of 7 Agriotes species. Agriotes nitidicollis Miller 1881 – Miller described Agriotes nitidicollis as a common

species from Budua (= Budva in Montenegro). The main differences to Agriotes ustulatus were described as A. nitidicollis being slenderer, with a more finely pitted surface on the pronotum, and a dark coloration at the bases of the elytra.