Features of the Vital Activity of Xantogaleruca luteola Müll., 1766 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in the Protective Plantating of the Volgograd Region, Russia

In the Volgograd region, about 80.0% of the total dendrological composition is accounted for by representatives of the genus Ulmus. Phyllophages of different ecological groups are trophically associated with tree species Ulmus: leaf-eating – Operophtera brumata (Linnaeus, 1758), Lymantria dispar (Linnaeus, 1758), elm springtail Dicranura ulmi (Denis, 1775), Acleris boscana (Fabricius, 1794) and others; gall-forming – Tetraneura (Tetraneura) ulmi (Linnaeus, 1758), Eriosoma lanuginosum (Hartig, 1839) and E. ulmi (Linnaeus, 1758), etc.; leaf-mining insects – Stigmella viscerella (Stainton, 1853), St. lemniscella (Zeller, 1839), St. ulmivora (Fologne, 1860), Fenusa ulmi (Sundevall, 1847). Among them, leaf-eating pests are distinguished, which reduce decorativeness and worsen the condition of woody plants. One of the economically dangerous species is Xanthogaleruca luteola Müller, 1766 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). For the first time, mass reproduction of the pest under the conditions of the region was observed in the middle of the 20th century. Сurrently, outbreaks of the number of X. luteola are noted periodically. The leaf beetle inhabits trees in plantations of all types and ecological categories, while the number of the pest varies depending on the ecological conditions of biotopes. This pest colonizes and assimilates foliage in the middle and lower parts of elm crowns (up to 81.7% of the total number). The maximum harm to the assimilation apparatus of trees is caused by the larvae of the leaf beetle.