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Light-trap catches of Dysdercus bimaculatus Stål (Heteroptera: Pyrrhocoridae) in relation to weather and the fruiting cycle of its host-plants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Janice A. Derr
Janice A. Derr
Affiliation:
Department of Statistics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK
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Abstract

Light-trap catches of Dysdercus bimaculatus Stål and weekly phenological records of its host-plants over a period of three years on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, are discussed in relation to a year-long study of population growth at selected plants. Population build-up of D. bimaculatus occurred on a sequence of seed crops from wild host-plants in the dry season. Each year, the largest number of bugs caught in the light-trap occurred after a drop in vapour pressure deficit marked the end of the dry season. Thus, the population appears ‘poised’ to attack cotton crops maturing in the late wet season. A stepwise linear regression indicated that each year, the variance in size of Pseudobombax septinatum crops (maturing at the end of the dry season) explained the largest proportion of variance in the light-trap capture of D. bimaculatus. However, estimates from the field study indicated that Ceiba pentandra crops were more important than P. septinatum in building up numbers of adult cotton stainers. The discrepancy between the field study and the longterm phonological monitoring survey would be resolved if D. bimaculatus adults experience a dispersal flight at the end of the dry season. This flight would enable the insect to locate better-quality seed crops in drier habitats that mature in the late wet season, such as Sterculia apetala or cotton. Light-trap captures at the end of the dry season in areas such as Barro Colorado Island where Ceiba and Pseudobombax occur, could be an index to the intensity of attack on cotton crops in nearby drier areas.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , March 1981 , pp. 47 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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