Investigating bark beetles, ambrosia beetles, and longhorn beetles communities in fruit tree orchards of Java region, Indonesia

Fruit commodities play a crucial role and contribute significantly to the region’s economy of Java. Xylophagous beetles have been reported as pests of fruit trees in several countries around the globe. In this study, we aimed to i) investigate the abundance of xylophagous beetle species in Java across four different fruit tree orchards and ii) understand the effect of the type of fruit orchards on the species composition of bark and ambrosia beetles and longhorn beetle. The field study was conducted on four different fruit orchards i.e. mango, citrus, avocado, and durian in the Java region. We used ethanol bait bottle traps to collect the bark and ambrosia beetles and Artocarpus traps to collect the longhorn beetles. A total of 5,039 bark and ambrosia beetles, representing 30 species, and 382 longhorn beetles, representing 12 species, were trapped. We found that X. affinis, Cryphalus spp., and S. alternans were the most abundant species of ambrosia, bark, and longhorn beetles, respectively. Our results also showed that bark, ambrosia, and longhorn beetle communities differed significantly among the fruit orchards. Monitoring wood-boring species is crucial for detecting newly introduced pests and understanding their establishment and impact on local ecosystems, such as fruit tree orchards in Java. The presence of non-native species may indicate early stages of invasion and could have long-term ecological and economic consequences. However, it is important to note that the specific types of traps, lures, and approaches employed may have influenced the trends observed in this study.