Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say, 1831)

Cvetkovska-Gjorgievska, Aleksandra, Dedov, Ivailo, Hristovski, Slavcho, Langourov, Mario, Lazarevska, Stanislava, Prelik, Dana & Simov, Nikolay, 2019, New records of allochtonous, invasive and pest invertebrate species from the Republic of Macedonia, Ecologica Montenegrina 20, pp. 56-70 : 59-60

Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say, 1831) - bean weevil ( Coleoptera , Chrysomelidae )

Record: Herbal tea bags, Skopje, numerous specimens, March 2017.

Origin: The origin of Acanthoscelides obtectus is doubtful and rather unknown. The species may be of Mesoamerican (Central America) ( Labeyrie 1990) or Andean origin (South America) ( Alvarez et al. 2005).

Comments: It is cosmopolitan insect pest of leguminous seeds in the field and within stored products. The feeding of larval stages is of economic importance since as seed predator consumes parts of wild and cultivated bean, Phaseolus vulgaris L. causing damages. A canthoscelides obtectus causes major economic losses in the Neotropical ecozone, as well as in the Palearctic, Afrotropical, and Indo-Malayan regions ( Southgate 1978; Gepts 1998; Papa et al. 2006; Thakur 2012). This species co-disperse with the host which is an important strategy to expand its range over long distances. A. obtectus favors warmer climates, which limits its northern distribution. It is well known that major introduction of the species to Europe was made during the 19th century with grain shipments to Europe from where it subsequently spread throughout the world.

Arion (Arion) cf. vulgaris from Kapishtec district in Cornu aspersum in Karposh district in Skopje (photo: S. Skopje (photo: S. Hristovski) Hristovski) Trogoderma variabile larva in a tea bag (photo: S. Dead specimen of Stegobium paniceum inside a tea- Hristovski) bag (photo: S. Hristovski)

Corythucha ciliata (photo N. Simov, M. Langourov) Leptoglossus occidentalis (photo N. Simov, M. Langourov)

Figure 1. Some invasive invertebrate species registered in Macedonia.