Journal of Economic Entomology最新文献

The "insects as food and feed" movement is gaining considerable momentum as a novel means to provide protein to people (i.e., food) and other animals (i.e., feed). Insects require significantly fewer resources, such as water and land, to produce, process, and distribute as a food or feed source. While the production of insect biomass has received considerable attention for use as food or feed, little is known about the value of the residual materials remaining after digestion. One insect, the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens (L.) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae), can generate large quantities of residual (i.e., frass) that is high in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These materials could serve as a partial replacement for fertilizer or peat, thus creating added value to the insects as food and feed sector. Greenhouse studies were designed to investigate the use of frass in vegetable production. In pot studies with tomatoes, different ratios of peat:vermicompost and peat:insect frass were compared to a 100% peat control. Across all other parameters, tomato fruits and vegetative biomass did not produce significant differences across treatments, indicating results were comparable to the control (i.e., 100% peat). Thus, replacing peat with black soldier fly frass is a viable option and could allow for the peat industry to become more sustainable and regenerative. However, it should be noted that average individual tomato fruit weight was significantly (P < 0.05) higher (by 19%) in the vermicompost 10% treatment compared to the control, which did not differ from treatments including black soldier fly frass.

Wireworms (Coleoptera: Elateridae) are economically significant pests of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), damaging the marketable portion of the crop by feeding and tunneling into tubers. While conventional potato growers use the few registered synthetic insecticides to control wireworms, certified organic growers are left with less options due to the limited effectiveness of the available insecticides. Biologically derived pesticides provide an additional alternative for both systems. Certain gram-negative proteobacteria, such as Burkholderia spp., possess insecticidal compounds. However, very little is known about their efficacy on wireworms. From 2018 to 2021, we conducted experiments in Virginia to assess the efficacy of a Burkholderia spp.-based commercial pesticide, Majestene, as a wireworm control in potatoes. In a lab experiment, soil drench application of this insecticide at a rate of 66 g a.i. per 1 liter resulted in 30% wireworm mortality and significantly reduced wireworm feeding damage on potato tubers. In the field, in-furrow applications of Burkholderia spp. at a rate of 17.66 kg a.i. per ha significantly reduced wireworm damage to tubers in 2 of 7 field experiments conducted. By comparison, the commercial standard insecticide, bifenthrin, significantly reduced tuber damage in 3 of the 7 field experiments. Our study demonstrates the prospect for proteobacteria-derived insecticides for control of wireworms and potentially other soil-dwelling insects. In conclusion, findings present growers with another option to combat wireworm pressure, especially in organic systems.

Chilli thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood, is a cryptic species complex of at least 9 species, 2 of which (South Asia 1 and East Asia 1) have been confirmed damaging >50 plant taxa in the United States. To develop a knowledge-based management program for this pest in the United States, the objectives of the study were to (i) survey for S. dorsalis species complex in the suspected regions and (ii) assess the reproductive hosts of the predominant member available. Thrips samples received from collaborators were subjected to morpholo-molecular characterization. Of the 101 thrips populations received across the United States between 2015 and 2021, 71 populations were confirmed as S. dorsalis, with ~25% further identified as East Asia 1, compared with ~41% identified as South Asia 1, suggesting the latter species is more prevalent in the US. East Asia 1 was primarily found in samples collected from Hydrangea sp. (95%) in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania, indicating geographic range expansion in the Northeast and successful overwintering in areas with hard freezes. While assessing the host range of South Asia 1 (dominant species), 62 plant taxa were evaluated under greenhouse conditions. Among these, 40 feeding and reproductive hosts were confirmed in Florida. We also found 18 new reproductive hosts and 3 feeding hosts of S. dorsalis, which were not previously reported in the literature. The results provide insight into the increasing host range and expanded geographical distribution of S. dorsalis species and will enable the development of a species-specific monitoring and management program.

Habrobracon hebetor (Say) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a cosmopolitan, idiobiont, and gregarious ectoparasitoid, which can parasitize the larvae of several pyralid and noctuid moths. However, adult parasitoids require cold storage to ensure that adequate individuals are available when a pest outbreak occurs. To understand the effects of cold storage after acclimation on offspring fitness of H. hebetor, the development, fecundity, population parameters, and paralysis rate of the F1 generation were evaluated using an age-stage, two-sex life table. Four pairing treatments were used in this study, with refrigerated males and females (ReF×ReM), unrefrigerated females and refrigerated males (UnF×ReM), refrigerated females and unrefrigerated males (ReF×UnM), and unrefrigerated females and males (UnF×UnM, control). Cold storage after acclimation had no significant effect on the fecundity or oviposition period of F0-generation H. hebetor. Moreover, the survival rate (Sa = 61.43%), proportion of females (Nf/N = 0.41), intrinsic rate of increase (r = 0.3450), finite rate of increase (λ = 1.4121), net reproduction rate (R0 = 149.47), and net paralysis rate (C0 = 74.52) of ReF×UnM and UnF×UnM (Sa = 50.00%, Nf/N = 0.34, r = 0.3297, λ = 1.3881, R0 = 155.69, C0 = 62.90, respectively) treatments were significantly higher than those of the ReF×ReM treatment (Sa = 45%, Nf/N = 0.16, r = 0.2277, λ = 1.2558, R0 = 68.81, C0 = 31.61, respectively) (except for the Sa of UnF×UnM treatment), and there was no significant difference between the 2 treatments. Overall, it is advisable to avoid simultaneous cold storage of female and male parasitoids or to add unrefrigerated males appropriately when using cold-stored parasitoids to control pests.

Plant pathogens that are transmitted by insect vectors cause considerable damage to crops when pests or pathogens are not detected early in the season and populations are not controlled. Knowledge of pathogen prevalence in insect pest populations can aid growers in their insect pest management decisions but requires the timely dissemination of results. This process requires that specimen capture, identification, nucleic acid extraction, and molecular detection of a pathogen(s) occur alongside a platform for sharing results. The potato psyllid (Bactericera cockerelli, Sulc; Hemiptera: Triozidae) and beet leafhopper (Circulifer tenellus, Baker; Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) transmit pathogens to potato and other vegetable or seed crops each season in the northwestern United States. While the potato psyllid has been tested for pathogen occurrence for the past decade, testing of the beet leafhopper is a new endeavor and substantially increases the specimen number that must be tested by our laboratories each season. To aid in the rapid processing of individual insect specimens, we optimized and validated a new high-throughput 96-well plate nucleic acid extraction method for use in place of a standard 1.5-ml single-tube extraction method. Processing efficiency, in terms of total specimens processed over a 2-day period, improved 2.5-fold, and the cost associated with processing a single sample was nearly cut in half with this newly developed plate nucleic acid extraction method. Overall, this method has proven to be an excellent tool for the rapid testing of large numbers of small, individual insect vectors to enable timely dissemination of data on pathogen prevalence to growers.

The gall wasp, Hemadas nubilipennis Ashmead, is a pest of highbush and lowbush blueberry and can pose a challenge to control with foliar sprays due to adult activity being during bloom and because larval development is within plant tissues. We hypothesized that systemic insecticides that move within the blueberry vascular system would reach areas where H. nubilipennis eggs are laid, causing larval mortality. Three application methods, crown injection, soil drench, and foliar spray were applied to potted 'Jersey' blueberry bushes at 50% and 100% rates to quantify systemic residue concentrations in shoots and leaves. Additionally, systemic insecticides were evaluated for control of gall wasps using single-shoot bioassays and measuring larval mortality at 0.01%, 0.1%, 1%, and 10% of field rate provided within a floral pick. Systemic insecticides tested in both studies included imidacloprid, flupyradifurone, and spirotetramat. The potted bush residue study determined that insecticides moved from three tested sites of entry: the roots, crown cavity, and foliage. Results from the shoot bioassays found that the mean percent larval survival of H. nubilipennis was negatively correlated with the concentration of AI detected in galls. Imidacloprid and spirotetramat were found to have the greatest potential for control of H. nubilipennis due to mortality in the shoot bioassays and similar residue concentrations in the potted bush studies to shoot bioassays. Future research should evaluate systemic insecticides applied in highbush blueberry plantings for control of H. nubilipennis using the bioassay mortality assessment method developed in this study.

Cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne (F.), is one of the most common stored-product pests. We monitored their population dynamics and distribution in two coffee bean warehouses in New Jersey, USA, using pheromone traps and sticky traps during September 2018-October 2020, and light traps in 2020. The two warehouses only implemented treatment procedures for controlling Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)) during the study period. The first L. serricorne adult appeared on pheromone traps from late May to early June when temperature reached 21-22 °C, and the last L. serricorne adult appeared on pheromone traps from late October to mid-November when temperature dropped to 10-14 °C. The majority of L. serricorne was caught during July-October. Light traps caught 5.5- and 2.2-times more L. serricorne per trap than pheromone traps in Warehouse 1 and 2, respectively. Warehouse 1 had a significantly higher density of L. serricorne than Warehouse 2. The L. serricorne activity peaks were not always clear and varied between year and the two warehouses. Zero to 3 hot spots, where had the largest numbers of L. serricorne, were identified from July to October in each warehouse based on pheromone traps, and their locations were similar through the months both in 2019 and 2020. The L. serricorne counts from pheromone traps placed inside warehouse were at least 2.3-times more than those placed outside. Also, the L. serricorne active period outside of the warehouses was shorter than that from inside of the warehouses.

Male Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) dispersion has largely been studied in nonmating disrupted orchards due to synthetic pheromone interference with capture in monitoring traps. Little is known about female dispersion. This study aimed to characterize male and female dispersion in mating disrupted commercial apple orchards. Sterile C. pomonella recapture data from single-trap multiple-release experiments using PHEROCON CM-DA COMBO + AA Lure-baited orange Pherocon VI delta traps was interpreted to determine pheromone-kairomone lure-baited trap effective area, trap deployment density for effective monitoring, and absolute male and female C. pomonella density in mating disrupted Washington commercial apple orchards. The maximum plume reach of the pheromone-kairomone lure in mating disrupted orchards was <5 m from the baited trap for both sexes. Maximum dispersive distances for 95% of the released C. pomonella in mating disrupted orchards were 106 and 135 m for males and females, yielding trapping areas of 3.87 and 6.16 ha, respectively. Estimates were consistent across 3 growing seasons and represent the first records of male and female dispersal distance and monitoring trap efficacy from commercial C. pomonella mating disrupted apple orchards. With relevance to commercial monitoring programs and economic thresholds in mating disrupted orchards, traps should be deployed at a density of 1 per 3-6 ha. Capture of a single male or female C. pomonella corresponds to at least 82-104 C. pomonella within the 3-6 ha trapping area. This refined C. pomonella capture interpretation in pheromone-kairomone baited traps in mating disrupted commercial apple orchards yields more precise damage estimates and assists in insecticide-use decision making.

Control of spotted-wing Drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, in small fruits emphasizes biological, cultural, and chemical approaches, whereas studies of host plant resistance as a form of genetic control are just getting underway. The identification of resistance patterns among genotypes of host plants whose fruit, leaves, roots, stems, or seeds are specifically targeted by an invasive pest is the first step in the development of an effective genetic control. Therefore, a detached fruit bioassay was developed to screen for D. suzukii oviposition and larval infestation within berries from 25 representative species and hybrids of wild and cultivated Vaccinium. Ten Vaccinium species showed strong resistance; among them, two wild diploids originating from within the fly's native range: V. myrtoides and V. bracteatum. Other resistant species came from the sections Pyxothamnus and Conchophyllum. They included New World V. consanguineum and V. floribundum. Large-cluster blueberry, V. amoenum, and three Floridian genotypes of related rabbiteye blueberry, V. virgatum, were the only hexaploids expressing strong resistance against D. suzukii. Most screened blueberry genotypes from managed lowbush and cultivated highbush types were susceptible to the flies' attacks (i.e., oviposition). Tetraploid blueberries tended to host the most eggs, whereas diploids and hexaploids harbored 50%-60% fewer eggs, on average. D. suzukii cannot lay eggs or complete development in the smallest, sweetest, and firmest diploid fruits. Likewise, certain genotypes of large-fruited tetraploid and hexaploid blueberry strongly curbed D. suzukii egg-laying and larval growth, indicating the possibility of heritable resistance operating against this invasive fly species.