Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:52:19.100Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Alfalfa Plant Bug, Adelphocoris lineolatus (Goeze) in Northern Saskatchewan1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

C. H. Craig
C. H. Craig
Affiliation:
Entomology Section, Canada Agriculture Research Station, Saskatoon, Sask.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The alfalfa plant bug, Adelphocoris lineolatus (Goeze), a well-known pest of alfalfa in Europe and the United States, was first recorded in Saskatchewan in 1947, in the Hudson Bay district about 16 miles west of the Manitoba border. By 1959 it had spread westward through the northern agricultural area of the province to within 35 miles of the Alberta border. Economic infestations appeared within two to four years of its initial occurrence in each district.

The migratory behaviour of the adult, which is apparently essential for maximum reproduction, effects rapid dispersal of the species. Also, because of this migratory behaviour control measures may have to be undertaken each year, and seedling stands may be infested in the first crop year.

The seasonal development of the insect is described. Apparently in the spread of the insect northward a univoltine population is being selected. Eggs that have overwintered in stems hatch in late May and early June. Development proceeds through five nymphal instars, and adults begin to appear toward the end of June. These adults lay eggs during the latter part of July. Most of the eggs enter diapause: less than five per cent of them hatch the same year, and any second-generation adults that do occur do not have time to mate and lay eggs before all activity is halted by freezing weather.

The main host plants of A. lineolatus are two cultivated legumes, alfalfa, Medicago media Pers., and red clover, Trifolium pratense L. No native host plants have been found in Saskatchewan.

About three per cent of field-collected nymphs from the Nipawin district were parasitized by braconid larvae tentatively identified as Euphorus pallipes (Curtis).

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 95 , Issue 1 , January 1963 , pp. 6 - 13
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1963

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arnason, A. P., McDonald, H., McMahon, H. A., Putnam, L. G., Fox, W. B., Stewart, W. W. A., and Fredeen, F. J. H.. 1951. Insects of the season 1950 in Saskatchewan. In the Canadian Insect Pest Review 29(1): 6. Canada Dept. of Agric., Ottawa (processed).Google Scholar
Arrand, J. C., and McMahon, H.. Ecology and behaviour of Plagiognathus medicagus Arrand (Hemiptera: Miridae): In preparation.Google Scholar
Bird, R. D., and Mitchener, A. V.. 1942. Insects of the season 1941 in Manitoba. In the Canadian Insect Pest Review 29(1): 62. Canada Dept. of Agric., Ottawa (processed).Google Scholar
Bird, R. D., and Mitchener, A. V.. 1948. Insects of the season 1947 in Manitoba. In the Canadian Insect Pest Review 26(1): 47. Canada Dept. of Agric., Ottawa (processed).Google Scholar
Hughes, J. H. 1943. The alfalfa plant bug Adelphocoris lineolatus (Goeze) and other Miridae (Hemiptera) in relation to alfalfa-seed production in Minnesota. University of Minnesota Agr. Expt. Sta. Tech. Bull. 161.Google Scholar
Knight, H. H. 1922. Nearctic records for species of Miridae known heretofore only from the Palaearctic region (Heterop.). Can. Ent. 53: 287–88.Google Scholar
Knight, H. H. 1930 An European plant-bug (Adelphocoris lineolatus Goeze) found in Iowa (Hemip.: Miridae). Entom. News 41 (1): 4–6.Google Scholar
Knight, H. H. 1941. The plant bugs, or Miridae, of Illinois. Ill. Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 22: 2.Google Scholar
McDonald, H., McMahon, H. A., Putnam, L. G., Stewart, W. W. A., Zacharuk, R. Y., Tayor, M. E., Fredeen, F. J. H., and Shemanchuk, J. A.. 1953. Insects of the season 1952 in Saskatchewan. In the Canadian Insect Pest Review 31(1): 32. Canada Dept. of Agric., Ottawa (processed).Google Scholar
Moroshkina, O. S., and Akimova, A. S.. 1939. The lucerne leaf-bug and its control (in Russian). Socialist Grain Fmg. No. 5: 101-117. 1938. Rev. Appl. Ent. A. 27: 474–75. (Original not seen).Google Scholar
Muesebeck, C. F. W. 1936. The genera of the parasitic wasps of the Braconid subfamily Euphorinae with a review of the Nearctic species. U.S. Dept. Agric. Misc. Bull. 241.Google Scholar
Vassiliev, E. M. 1913. List of pests of lucerne (in Russian). Entom. Exp. Sta. of the All-Russ. Soc. of Sugar Refiners in Smiela, Gov't of Kiev. 1913. Rev. Appl. Ent. A, 1: 526–27. (Original not seen).Google Scholar