Claire E. Rutledge

Department of Entomology
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
123 Huntington Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Voice: (203) 974-8484 Fax: (203) 974-8502
E-mail: Claire.Rutledge@ct.gov

Expertise:

My research focuses on insects that bore into wood. I mainly study how they mate, how they use chemicals to communicate, how they interact with plants, and how their predators and parasites behave.

Education:
B.A. in Biology, Oberlin College 1989
M.S. in Entomology, University of Illinois 1994
Ph.D. in Entomology, University of Illinois 1998

Station career:

Assistant Agricultural Scientist 2004-2015
Associate Agricultural Scientist 2015-present

Past research:

My past research has focused on how plants, the insects that eat them, and the natural enemies of those insects all interact. In one study, I looked at how different host plants affect which caterpillars are attacked by a type of imported wasp. In another project, I studied how the surface of a plant affects how well ladybeetles can hunt pea aphids. I also found that for soybean aphids, a newly invasive species, the age of the plant and the time the aphids arrive each year can change how well local predators can keep their numbers low enough to avoid serious crop damage.

Current research:
I am currently working with wood-boring beetles with a focus on invasive members of the Buprestidae and Cerambycidae.

Buprestidae: The emerald ash borer is a harmful insect that attacks ash trees. It was first found in Connecticut in July 2010. It is closely related to a local insect called the bronze birch borer, which can also cause problems for birch trees when they are weak or stressed.

I have been studying how these two insects mate and how they live. I am also looking at the natural enemies of the bronze birch borer. This helps me understand what insects already live in the area before we introduce biological control agents for the emerald ash borer. It may also help us find new natural enemies that could be used to control the emerald ash borer in the future.

Another important area of my research is using a native digger wasp called Cerceris fumipennis to help detect the emerald ash borer and other invasive beetles. We have studied how these wasps survive the winter and how they choose their prey. We also set up a survey program that includes volunteers, known as the Wasp Watchers, who help us monitor these insects.

Cerambycidae: The Small Japanese Cedar Borer is an invasive longhorned beetle from Japan. The pheromones involved in both mating and habitat location are under studied.

Selected publications available from the author, Claire.Rutledge@ct.gov

Rutledge, C. E., Keena, M. A. (2012). Mating frequency and fecundity in the Emerald Ash Borer Agrilus planipennis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). Ann. Entom. Soc. Am., 105(1), 66-72.
Rutledge C. E., Hellman, W., Teerling, C., Fierke, M. K. (2011). Two novel prey families for the buprestid-hunting wasp Cerceris fumipennis Say (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae). Coleopterists Bulletin, 65(2), 194-196.
Rutledge, C. E., Millar, J. G., Romero, C. M., Hanks, L. M. (2009). Identification of an important component of the contact sex pheromone of Callidiellum rufipenne (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Environ. Entomol. 38(4), 1267-1275.
Rutledge, C. E., Eigenbrode, S. D., Ding, H. (2008). A plant surface mutation mediates predator interference among ladybird larvae. Ecol. Entomol., 33, 464–472.
Rutledge, C. E., Young, D. K. (2007). First report of an attractant for a tumbling flower beetle (Coleoptera: Mordellidae). Environ. Entomol., 36(4), 894-898.
Rutledge, C. E., O’Neil, R. J. (2006). Soybean plant stage and population growth of soybean aphid. J. Econ. Entom., 99(1), 60-66.
Rutledge, C. E. (2005). First record of the soybean aphid, Aphis glycines (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Aphididae) in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Great Lakes Entomol., 37(3-4), 99-2001.
Rutledge, C. E., O’Neil, R. J. (2005). Orius insidiosus (Say) as a predator of the soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura. Biological Control, 33(1), 56-64.
Heimpel, G. E., Ragsdale, D. W., Venette, R., Hopper, K. R., O’Neil, R. J., Rutledge, C. E. and Z. Wu. (2004). Prospects for importation biological control of the soybean aphid: anticipating potential costs and benefits. Ann. Entom. Soc. Am., 97, 249-258.
Rutledge, C. E., O’Neil, R. J., Fox, T. B. and D.A. Landis. (2004). Soybean aphid predators and their use in IPM. Ann. Entom. Soc. Am., 97, 240-248.
Rutledge, C. E. and S. D. Eigenbrode. (2003). Plant epicuticular wax decreases instantaneous search rate of Hippodamia convergens larvae on peas and reduces their attachment to leaf surfaces. The Canadian Entomologist, 135, 1-9.
Rutledge, C. E., Robinson, A. P. and S. D. Eigenbrode. (2003). Effects of a simple plant morphological mutation on the arthropod community and the impacts of predators on a principal insect herbivore. Oecologia, 135, 39-50.
Rutledge, C. E. and R. N. Wiedenmann. (1999). Habitat preferences of the Cotesia flavipes complex (Hym.: Braconidae): Implications for host-range testing in biological control. Biological Control, 16, 144-154.
Rutledge, C. E. (1996). A survey of identified kairomones and synomones used by insect parasitoids. Chemoecology, 7, 121-131.
Zangerl, A. R. and C. E. Rutledge. (1996). Probability of attack and patterns of constitutive and induced defense: a test of optimal defense theory. Amer. Nat., 147(4), 599-608.