1. An introduction to the Shot Hole Borer Beetle
Photo: Trudy Paap

2. Background on Borer Beetles
99% only feed off dead plant matter
Only 10 spp enter living tissue
1) Bark Borer Beetles
- layer between bark and wood
2) Ambrosia Borer Beetles
Bore into wood material of plants
Live mostly in softer year lines of the wood
Very specific relationship with a fungus
Generally associated with specific tree host

3. The Polyphagous Shothole Borer Beetle (PSHB)
Euwallacea fornucatus
Fungal symbiont (the real threat to the trees): Fusarium euwallacea
Polyphagous = 'eating in excess'
Origin: Asia
Arose as a pest in USA and Israel killing Avocado trees.

4. The Polyphagous Shothole Borer Beetle (PSHB)
If host it bores into is suitable creates brood galleries for young
Then introduce F. euwallaceae colonises walls of galleries and used as food for brood and adults
F. euwallaceae then invades the vascular tissue of tree - branch die back, vascular wilting and death of many trees

5. The PSHB in South Africa
Officially first recorded by Trudy Paap at the Kwazulu Natal National Botanical Garden in 2016
Subsequently discovered in Johannesburg and Pretoria
Most recently ID'd in George, Knysna and Tsitsikamma

6. 6
South Africa
Pietermaritzburg
Durban

7. REPRODUCTIVE HOST TREES
NON-REPRODUCTIVE HOST TREES
English Oak
Blackwood (A. melanoxylon)
Avocado
Liquid ambar
Boxelder
Coral (Erythrina caffra)
London Plane
Chinese maple
Japanese maple
Virgillia diviricata??
Honey locust
Flame tree (Brachychiton)
Magnolia grandiflora
Salix spp.
Castor bean
Jacaranda mimosifolia?
Fig
Grapevine
Guava
Lemon
Loquat
Mulberry
Olive
Orange
Peach
Pecan
Plum spp.
Orchid tree (Bauhinia)
Ash (Fraxinus spp.)
Camellia spp.
Camphor
Elm spp.
Frangipani
Kapok
Oak spp.
Silver birch
Willow
Euc. camaldulensis
Syringa (Melia azedarach)
Pepper tree
Poplar
Verbernum
Acacia (Vachelia) spp.
Bauhinia galpinii
Bosvlier (Nuxia floribunda)
Buddleja saligna (witolien)
Combretum spp.
Erythrina spp.
Geelkeurboom (Calpurnia aurea)
Huilboerboon (Schotia brachypetala)
Kiepersol (Cussonia spicata)
Kruidjie-roer-my-nie
Monkey plum (Diospyros lycidioides)
Podocarpus falcatus
Podocarpus henkelii
Searsia spp.
Terminalia sp.

8. The PSHB in South Africa – Non Indigenous Hosts
AGRICULTURAL TREES
-Avoes, macadamia, pecan, peach, orange, grape vine, fig (indigenous figs??)
-Rooibos?Honey bush?
OTHER
-Maples, Oaks, Planes, Poplars, Liquid ambers, Willows
-Castor bean (Melianthus major??)

9. The PSHB in South Africa – Indigenous Hosts
PREVIOUSLY RECORDED
- Coral Tree, Vachellia seiberiana, Combretum sp. ,Diospiros whytianna, Cussonia spicata, Afrocarpus falcatus
RECORDED AT THE GRBG
- Podylaria calyptrata, Virgillia sp., Diospyros sp., Protea mundii, Leucodendrom conicum, Psoralea pinnata, Rapanea melanophloes, Afrocarpus falcatus.

10. The PSHB in South Africa – Podylaria calyprata

11. The PSHB in South Africa – Protea mundii

12. The PSHB in South Africa – Keurboom

13. The PSHB in South Africa – Leucodendron conicum

14. The PSHB in South Africa – Diospyros sp.

15. Current Control Methods
Cut and burn (on site)
Chip and compost (under clear plastic/ 30:1 C N content)
Cut and solarise
Lures (expensive and not effective – rep in situe)
Fungicide/pesticide mixes (not properly tested)

16. My Opinion
Plants natural habitat vs. current location (genetic diversity)
Plants health (weedeater damage etc)
Plant age and ecological function
Tool sanitation
Remove reproductive hosts

17. Issues we face Educate small scale landscape and garden services
Try stop firewood dispersal
The beetle in nursery saplings
Looking at tree spp that are NOT getting effected