Preliminary studies on presence of entomopathogens in outbreak population populations of the great web spinning pine sawfly Acantholyda posticalis in urban forest stands

Abstract: The great web spinning pine sawfly Acantholyda posticalis (Matsumura, 1912) isfound in coniferous areas of Central and Northern Europe, especially pine stands, mainly onyoung and middle aged pines. In the climatic conditions of Latvia their mass outbreak occu rsrarely. In the summer of 2013, the outbreak of great web spinning pine sawfly A. posticalis wasobserved in forest stands (approximately 100 ha) of the Daugavpils municipality (Latvia). Theaim of the study is to assess affected stands by web spinning p ine sawfly, to acquire preliminarydata on mortality factors and identify present parasitoids and entomopathogens entomopathogens.