The recent outbreak of Enaphalodes rufulus in the Ozark forests of Arkansas and Missouri is a contributing factor in the deaths of thousands of northern red oaks, Quercus rubra, which are currently experiencing oak decline. Such population explosions in other oak decline areas within the native range of E. rufulus have never been documented. The possibility of a genetically distinct population within the Ozarks is being investigated as a possible explanation for the population explosion of this native insect. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP) of the nuclear marker ITS1 and the mitochondrial control region were used to assess genetic variance within and among populations of E. rufulus in the Ozark Mountains of northern Arkansas, southern Missouri and the Ouachita Mountains of west-central Arkansas. These locations were also compared with E. rufulus populations from various sites throughout its geographic range in the eastern United States.
Species 1: Coleoptera Cerambycidae Enaphalodes rufulus (red oak borer)
Keywords: population genetics, forest entomology
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