Buprestids populations sampling in Spanish cork oak forests

Abstract: Abiotic factors, diseases and pests have an important effect on the health of cork treeand a significant impact on the losses in the production of the cork. Among these factors is thepresence of buprestid beetles. Buprestidae family is a coleopteran group that produces importantdamage in cork oak because they are borer insects of trunks or branches. Coroebus undatus isone of the most important pests of the cork oak. The aim of this work was to study thecomposition, diversity and seasonal trend of buprestids community present in Espadan mountainin Spain. We used several types of traps to catch the buprestid insects to carry out this study.From 2004 to 2005, studies were carried out with a vacuum machine in seven plots and withMalaise traps in four plots. From June to September in the 2008 and 2010, sticky traps wereemployed. All samples were collected periodically every 7-10 days. Differences among thecaught species were dependent on the kind of sampling used. Agrilus spp, Acmaeodera spp andChrysobothris affinis were the most numerous. 13 different species with malaise traps and only 4with vacuum machine were found. In the present study we also compared the populationdynamics of the most abundant species.