Update on the situation of Anoplophora glabripennis in Austria
The NPPO of Austria recently informed the EPPO Secretariat about the situation of Anoplophora glabripennis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae – EPPO A1 List) on its territory with detailed pest status for each outbreak. In summary, the outbreaks of Braunau am Inn and St. Georgen bei Obernberg have been successfully eradicated. Eradication measures are still in place in Gallspach, but in 2017 no specimens or signs of the pest were detected there.
Braunau am Inn (Oberösterreich)
The first outbreak of A. glabripennis in Austria was detected in 2001 (EPPO RS 2001/135) in the municipality of Braunau am Inn (Oberösterreich). A demarcated area was established, and official measures were immediately taken to eradicate the pest. These measures included an intensive grid-based monitoring survey across the whole infested area (i.e. whole territory of Braunau) with specifically trained inspectors, tree climbers and sniffer dogs. In case of positive sampling (morphological and DNA identification) whole trees were immediately felled, chipped and incinerated. Furthermore, a GIS-based computer map of trees (about 13 000 trees) was developed, and preventive felling of all potential host trees in the surroundings of hot spots and along roads, railway tracks and small dense growing forests (6 ha and 8 ha) were undertaken. Within the buffer zone hardwood cuttings were inspected and host trees were monitored. As since June 2009, no new infestation and no living stages of the pest were detected in this demarcated area, A. glabripennis was officially declared as eradicated in that area in 2012 (EPPO RS 2013/163).
Pest status for the Braunau area: Absent, pest eradicated
St. Georgen bei Obernberg (Oberösterreich)
An isolated outbreak (1 exit hole and 3 trees with living larvae) was detected in the municipality of St. Georgen bei Obernberg (Oberösterreich) at the end of July 2012 (EPPO RS 2013/163). The source of this outbreak was wood packaging material used for granite stone imports that was stored at the site of the outbreak. Eradication measures were immediately taken as follows: establishment of a demarcated area and a clear-cut zone (radius 500 m) of all host trees, and implementation of an intensive monitoring programme (within a radius of 2000 m). Monitoring activities carried out from 2012 to 2016 with sniffer dogs did not detect the pest or signs of its presence. Therefore, A. glabripennis was declared as eradicated in that area in 2016 (EPPO RS 2017/003).
Pest status for the St. Georgen bei Obernberg area: Absent, pest eradicated
Gallspach (Oberösterreich)
In 2013-11-06, an infestation was detected in the municipality of Gallspach (district of Grieskirchen, Oberösterreich), and confirmed by the Austrian Federal Forest Office in 2013-11-08. Phytosanitary measures were immediately implemented to eradicate the pest. Intensive monitoring surveys with specifically trained inspectors, tree climbers and sniffer dogs have been carried out since 2013. In 2017, for the first time there were no new findings.
Pest status for the Gallspach area: Absent (2017), pest under eradication
Sources
NPPO of Austria (2018-03).