Printer Friendly Version Viburnum Leaf Beetle

Prepared by John Pogacnik (Biologist)

Viburnum leaf beetles were found in some our parks recently.  This new invader is going to drastically affect the vegetation in our parks.  Viburnums are common species in our old fields and forest understory.  Viburnums provide fruit that is heavily used by birds and other wildlife.  The potential loss of viburnums in the landscape is going to be a major loss to the park system.  Individual shrubs can be treated, but there are so many viburnums in our parks and they are scattered throughout the areas that treatment is not an option. Following is a brief overview of the beetles and the viburnums affected.

The viburnum leaf beetle (Pyrrhalta viburni) is native to Europe.  It was first found near Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada in 1947.  Since then it has spread into Canadian Maritime Provinces, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Ohio.  In 2002 it was reported from Conneaut in Ashtabula County.  There were reports from Lake County in 2005- 2006.  It was first found in our parks in 2007. 

Thus far it has been found at Erie Shores Golf Course, Atchison Property (Hogback Ridge North), River Road, and Nash Property (South Ridge).  At Nash Property several large totally skeletonized shrubs were found near the east boundary and shrubs showing varying degrees of infestation were found throughout this property.  The other three locations had just widely scattered shrubs with some skeletonized leaves.  The Nash Property is the worst area so far.  The beetles have also found in an area of Painesville along Lake Erie.

The larvae of the beetles feed on the leaves leaving just the leaf veins.  Entirely defoliated shrubs die within two-three years.  In Pennsylvania, near Erie, I saw fields that had large numbers of dead viburnums.  The northern arrow-wood viburnum is a major shrub component in many of our old field areas.  Mapleleaf viburnum can also be found in our fields as can European cranberry bush viburnum.  Northern arrow-wood and mapleleaf viburnums are common in the understory in many of our woodlands.

The most susceptible viburnums locally are northern arrow-wood viburnum (Viburnum recognitum) and the European cranberry bush viburnum (Viburnum opulus opulus), a non-native species.  Northern arrow-wood is probably our most common viburnum and European cranberry bush viburnum is frequent in many of our fields.  Moderately preferred viburnums are mapleleaf viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium) and wayfaring-tree (Viburnum lantana), a non-native species.  Mapleleaf viburnum is fairly common in many of our parks and wayfaring-tree is found mainly at Lakeshore Reservation.  Least preferred are hobblebush (Viburnum alnifolium) and nannyberry (Viburnum lentago).  Hobblebush is rare in the parks and is listed as “Potentially threatened” in Ohio and nannyberry is uncommon locally.

For further information and photos check out the following sites:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/sc195/013.html

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/vlb/