Collection of ambrosia beetle infested material in Durban 2022-03-15
During the week of 28 February a team of FABIans visited various regions in Durban to collect material infested with Euwallacea sp. ambrosia beetles. The material was brought back as part of projects of postdoc Dr Wilma Nel and MSc student Claire Randolph. Recently, a second haplotype of the polyphagous shothole borer, Euwallacea fornicatus, was collected at some of the sites visited and part of Claire's project aims to determine whether this haplotype associates with the same or a different Fusarium species than the haplotype we have been familiar with since 2018. Along with being infested with PSHB, the collected material is being co-infested with a native relative to PSHB, Euwallacea xanthopus. No symbiont has thus far been described for this species and part of Wilma’s postdoc will aim to identify and characterise the symbiont of this species. Additionally, the collected material will be screened for potential natural enemies of PSHB as part of Wilma’s work and that of PhD student Garyn Townsend.