Ekspresowa Analiza Zagrożenia Agrofagiem: Opiętek brzozowiec Agrilus anxius (Gory, 1841)

The bronze birch borer can emerge and establish itself in the PRA area. The most likely route of its infestation is intercontinental transport of birch wood from regions of natural occurrence of the agrophage. Suitable climatic conditions and the presence of host trees possible for colonization allow us to assume that Agrilus anxius can do damage to communities with birch trees in Poland. Its possible impact on such stands PRA area may be greater than in North America. Although trees attractive to the agrophage are common throughout the country they do not usually form monocultures, and their share in communities is usually small in species composition. For this reason, there is no risk of decay of entire stands, even in the case of complete elimination of birch from the ecosystems. If the species is detected in batches of transported wood raw material, the raw material should be disposed of, preferably by burning. This must be done as soon as possible, except during winter - when insect activity is limited and this procedure can be delayed in time. Once the presence of the bronze birch borer is established in the wild, in the PRA area, any methods of its eradication are unlikely to yield satisfactory results. Rapid detection of the species, which could increase the probability of success in controlling the agrophage is severely hampered for the following reasons:
- it has a secretive lifestyle, and the observable adult forms are short-lived,
- there are other similar species of the genus under the bark of birch trees in the PRA area, which can lead to
misleading identification, especially in the preimaginal stages,
- once the adults emerge, the insects quickly proceed to reproduce and colonize new trees, often located at a considerable distance from the plant in which they developed.