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A two-year study of parasitoid entomofauna associated with spruce bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in the altimontane belt of Slovenia (Pohorje)

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Abstract

Parasitoids are known to be an important factor in the population density regulation of bark beetles. In our study of the parasitoid complex of spruce bark beetles in 2011 and 2012, we collected bark samples from trees infested with I. typographus from spruce stands in the altimontane belt of Slovenia. The samples were taken at different altitudes: 450, 700 and 1230 m above sea level. A total of 9 bark beetle species and 12 parasitoid species was found. Ips typographus was most abundant, with 93% of all species of scolytids. The parasitoid species that were found belonged mainly to the Pteromalidae and Braconidae families. By far the most abundant and frequent species was Roptrocerus xylophagorum, which represented 84% of all parasitoids and was present in all study samples. Differences in species composition, parasitoid species diversity, species abundance and parasitism rate were confirmed between locations and also between both years of our study.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof. Dr. Cees van Achterberg (Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands) for determination of specimens from the Braconidae family. We are also grateful to M PLUS d.o.o. for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology & Institute for Biology, Ecology and Nature Conservation, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 160, 2000, Maribor, Slovenia

    Jan Podlesnik

  2. Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade, Kneza Višeslava 1, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Ljubodrag Mihajlović

  3. Department of Forestry and Renewable Forest Resources, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Večna pot 83, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Maja Jurc

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  1. Jan Podlesnik
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  2. Ljubodrag Mihajlović
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Correspondence to Jan Podlesnik.

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Podlesnik, J., Mihajlović, L. & Jurc, M. A two-year study of parasitoid entomofauna associated with spruce bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in the altimontane belt of Slovenia (Pohorje). Phytoparasitica 45, 135–145 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12600-017-0574-1

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