title: Diabrotica virgifera virgifera on South-Northern expansion drive?
abstract: As Wudtke and colleagues predicted and Hummel and colleagues later confirmed, the Western corn rootworm Diabrotica v. virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) (WCR) had shown the ability to expand northward from South and Eastern into Central Europe. Decades earlier WCR had done the same in North America. Yet, European entomologists erroneously assumed they would be somehow magically protected from such aggressive moves of WCR. Meanwhile we know better: Southern Germany is infested, and also many East European countries are victims of these Northern and also Eastern advances. In Germany, neither speed nor extent of such advances is well defined. Jumping advances similar to earlier spreading episodes may be the rule, but they are not well predictable. In this report, we argue for a persistent northbound trend of WCR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organic Agriculture, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, DE-35394 Giessen, Germany. Hans.E.Hummel@agrar.uni-giessen.de
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Hummel
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bertossa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deuker
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leithold
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000502:physiology*; D005858:Germany; D007300:Insect Control; D058865:Introduced Species; D011156:Population Density; D011157:Population Dynamics