Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte: inconspicuous leaf beetle--formidable challenges to agriculture

In the universe of entomology with its close to one million described and an estimated ten million undescribed species, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysometidae), the Western corn rootworm (WCR), is one of the economically most important pests. It causes annual treatment costs and damages of a billion dollars in the US (Metcalf 1986). Similar costs are predicted for Europe which the beetle invaded 15 years ago. Due to lack of natural enemies it is now expanding its territory at a rapid rate. With prior experience gained in Illinois, USA, and subsequent largely unsuccessful efforts to stop the pest in Europe, eradication efforts, although attempted in France and in the Veneto region of northern Italy, are not a viable sustainable strategy for the future nor a long term solution. Crop rotation, so far one of the best cultural management options of practicing entomologists, is beginning to show weaknesses specificly on Glycine max (Shaw et al. 1978, Levine et al. 2002, Spencer et al. 2005, Kiss et al. 2005, Tollefson and Prasifka 2006). WCR also was discovered on alternative hosts such as Cucurbita pepo in Slovenia (Hummel et al. 2007a, 2007b), C.maxima in Hungary (Moeser and Vidal 2001), and Serbia (Baca 1993, Baca and Berger 1994, Baca unpublished 1998, Baca 2007). WCR thus turns out to remain a challenge to general entomolog'sts, agricultural and ecological entomologists, geneticists, epidemiologists, crop protection engineers, phytosanitary services and economists alike. WCR and H. sapiens today are reaching a labile ecological equilibrium of coexistence, with new surprises on both sides in the "arms race" just waiting around the corner. Most experts will agree that WCR is in Europe to stay and is readily expanding from here to Asia and Africa if given the slightest chance.- The really unsolved question remains how to manage WCR sensibly, economically, and sustainably, and how and where to train a new generation of capable, reliable, all round entomological pest managers needed for the future.