Vol. 111, 1979

p. 357, title: for (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) read (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

p. 357, Abstract, line 4: For Bol. read Boh.

Fourth instar Douglas-fir tussock moth were used to assess the residual toxicity of 10 insecticides applied to Douglas-fir seedlings. Among the 10, carbaryl compared most favorably to DDT. Rainfastness of the insecticides was tested by means of a rainchamber. Permethrin, diflubenzuron, and carbaryl were least affected by simulated rainfall, while acephate and trichlorfon were seriously and adversely affected.

Palaeodipteron walkeri Ide (Diptera: Nymphomyiidae) is recorded from watercourses of two northern Quebec localities. The known distribution of the species is thus extended to 54°N, in the subarctic zone. Collections were made in a wide variety of habitats. Nearly 200 adults and many larvae were captured; emergence rate of this supposedly uncommon insect reached 98 adults/m2/day. Habitats and sampling methods are described, and larval locomotion, phenology, distribution, and abundance are discussed.

Spear-marked black moth, Rheumaptera hastata (L.), females tended to oviposit more readily on paper birch, Betula papyrifera Marsh., than other deciduous plants indigenous to interior Alaska. Larval feeding intensity was about 40% higher on birch foliage than on other host plants. Larvae reared on various host plant species differed in survival, development rate, and body weight. Food quality of host plants on which females were reared as larvae affected oviposition, fecundity, and egg viability. Larval development rate and survival decreased when fed foliage from birch trees that were repeatedly defoliated for 2 and 3 years.

Emodin, a mixture of anthraquinones, occurs in the Rhamnaceae and functions as a deterrent to foliage-feeding insects. There was little attack on foliage of Rhamnus alnifolia in wild stands compared with associated species of woody plants. Anthraquinones extracted from foliage of R. alnifolia were similar to purchased emodin in thin-layer chromatographic and infra-red spectroscopic analyses. Quantities of emodin in foliage samples were high in May, declining to low levels in August. Leaf powders, leaf extracts, and purchased emodin all showed feeding deterrent activity when mixed with artificial diets and assayed with gypsy moth larvae. Purchased emodin showed similar activity when sprayed on foliage of small cherry trees and assayed with eastern tent caterpillar larvae.

Black horned tree crickets, Oecanthus nigricornis (Walker), were continuously reared for the first time in the laboratory. Optimum rearing conditions per unit effort involved 2 months at −5 °C to terminate egg diapause, and subsequent incubation of eggs from infested raspberry cane segments at 27 °C and 45% relative humidity. Eggs began hatching in 2 weeks, and second generation eggs were obtained within 2.5 months. The best survival from egg to adult was 55%. The possibility that male tree crickets provide a nutritional investment in their progeny is discussed.

Pseudencyrtus borealis and Tetrastichus cecidivorus n. spp. are described as parasites of Paradiplosis tumifex Gagné. Both were reared from balsam fir needle galls in late summer and fall.

A single 0.3 ppm injection of methoxychlor into the Athabasca River, Alberta on 4 June 1974 for 15 min caused catastrophic drift for a distance of over 400 km, and a subsequent large decrease in the drifting population. This decrease, when expressed as a percentage reduction from pretreatment drift, is in close agreement with percentage reduction of standing crop recorded by other sampling methods. The time required for the pesticide to affect different species varied considerably but was not related to the mode of feeding. Methoxychlor residues above ambient levels in water were recorded in all the invertebrate populations sampled. Caged animals had significantly different residues than the natural populations. The use of caged animals as indicators of environmental damage is therefore questioned.

Mating, oviposition, and flight in the satin moth, Leucoma salicis (L.), were studied in an aspen forest in Maine during 1975 and 1976. Adult eclosion normally occurred between 0800 h (EST) and 2300 h, with males emerging earlier both daily and seasonally. Female calling behavior and mating occurred shortly after sunset on the day of eclosion. Mating lasted ca. 19 h, terminating prior to sunset; low temperatures extended the period of mating. Multiple mating was observed in males and females. Oviposition normally occurred between 1600 and 2330 h. The largest egg masses were the first laid, with sequentially smaller masses laid on following days. Confined females laid an average of 4.6 egg masses containing a total of 650 eggs. Female flight normally followed oviposition of the first egg mass; thereafter, the period of daily flight often preceded oviposition. Male flight started at 0500 h, peaked between 1600 and 2100 h, and ended at 0130 h. Adult longevity under confined field conditions averaged 8.6 days for males and 9.4 days for females.

The baculovirus of Thymelicus lineola (Ochs.) has proved most effective as a microbial control agent of its host in numerous field trials, however, prior to its general use in an integrated control programme its possible deleterious effects on non-target organisms must be considered. Therefore the pathogenicity of this baculovirus to sheep and its cytopathogenicity to tissue cultures of lamb and calf testes were studied. Preliminary tests on 16 insect species were also carried out. No macro- or microscopic differences were detected between treated and control groups, suggesting that this baculovirus is quite specific and that its use as a microbial insecticide is feasible against T. lineola.

Following the action taken by Brown (1968), Ferris (1977) in his recent revision of Epidemia dorcas (Kirby) and E. helloides (Boisduval) cited the type locality for E. dorcas florus (W. H. Edwards) as “ ‘Taken on Red Deer River B. Am., by Captain Geddes’ — later restricted by Edwards to ‘Garrett's Ranche, Br. Amer.’; actually Didsbury, just north of Calgary, Alberta.” Brown's action was in part based upon views expressed by McDunnough (1922).

The biology of the crucifer flea beetle, Phyllotreta cruciferae (Goeze), was studied in the laboratory, and under field conditions in southwestern Ontario. Field-collected adults, held in a state of induced hibernation were used for some laboratory studies. A rearing procedure was developed and a culture maintained for eight generations provided additional adults for laboratory work. Development and behaviour of the various crucifer flea beetle stages at different temperatures were studied. The mean preoviposition period ranged from 3.8 (32°C) to 22 (20°C) days. Time required for development from egg to adult varied from 24 (30°C) to 54 (20°C) days. For oviposition capability and egg to adult development, developmental thresholds were ca. 17° and 11°C, respectively, and 61 and 456 degree days were required. Crucifer flea beetle adults overwintered in leaf litter and the top 2.5 cm of soil, in windbreaks, fencerows, and cultivated areas. Adults appeared in early spring. Peak adult movement occurred at this time, primarily within 2 m of the ground, and oriented toward crucifer plots. Using heat unit summations calculated from soil temperatures, adult emergence in the field from eggs set out at various times was predicted with an accuracy of ± 3.7 days. Population studies and heat unit accumulations indicated that there was a single generation of crucifer flea beetle in 1974, and two generations in 1975. Adults were restricted primarily to cruciferous crops, with rutabaga and Chinese cabbage being the preferred hosts, among those varieties tested.

Head capsule widths of laboratory-reared and mature field-collected larvae of P. isabella were measured. The number of larval instars varied from 7 to 10, yet in all larvae studied, average size and increment in the successive instars were the same for instars 1 to 3. In the latter instars, there was an inverse relationship between size of increment and prospective number of instars. Insects which completed 10 instars were only a little larger than those maturing after only 7 instars. These data fail to support Dyar’s rule.

Traps baited with the sex pheromone of the bertha army worm moth, Mamestra configurata (Walker), were operated at 36 sites across the prairie provinces in 1976 and 1977. They captured ca. 15 times as many bertha moths as did light traps and were considered to constitute a useful method for detection of adults of this species.

Three new species of fleas are described, two of the family HYSTRICHOPSYLLIDAE Tiraboschi 1904 (Nearctopsylla grahami n. sp. and Rhadinopsylla (Micropsylla) rauschi n. sp.) and one of the family CERATOPHYLLIDAE Dampf 1908 (Ceratophyllus calderwoodi n. sp,). N. grahami is known only from western Ontario where it has been collected from marten, Martes a. americana. R. (M.) rauschi was collected from deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus osgoodi, in southwestern Saskatchewan. C. calderwoodi was collected from a nest of cliff swallow, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, in eastern New Brunswick.

A stochastic model is developed for the expected number of prey taken by a single predator when prey depletion is apparent. The so-called “random predator equation” with prey exploitation of Royama and Rogers is compared with the stochastic model. The numerical comparisons illustrate situations where the deterministic model provides adequate and inadequate approximations.

Degree-day relationships in the development of Lithocolletis blancardella (Fab.) and Apanteles ornigis Weed, its major parasite, were established from laboratory and field studies in Ontario apple orchards during 1973, 1974, and 1975. Under constant laboratory conditions, temperature thresholds for development of overwintering pupae were estimated by three methods, and found to be 6.3°, 6.7°, and 5.7°C for L. blancardella, and 10.4°, 10.4°, and 11.3°C for A. ornigis. Degree-day accumulations in the field were calculated by two methods using daily maximum and minimum temperatures recorded from the pupal habitat and a Stevenson screen. Degree-days in the pupal habitat accumulated from 1 January, above 5.7°C for L. blancardella and 11.3°C for A. ornigis were more accurate than Stevenson screen degree-day accumulations for predicting first emergence; however, after emergence, seasonal development was best related to Stevenson screen degree-days accumulated from 1 April, above 6.7°C for L. blancardella and 10.4°C for A. ornigis. This study shows that degree-day relationships can be used in an apple pest management programme to optimize timing of insecticide applications against L. blancardella and preserve A. ornigis, its major natural enemy.

Dimilin (25% wettable powder) was mixed in water and sprayed from a Grumman Agcat aircraft equipped with four micronair units at the rate of 70 g (active ingredients) / 4,67 L/ha (1 oz/0.5 U.S. gal per acre) on two stands of trembling aspen, Populus tremuloides Michx., heavily infested with forest tent caterpillar, Malacosoma disstria Hübner. The material was applied when the insects were in the first and second instars and the trees were starting to flush. Spray deposit analysis using a dye, Rhodamine-B, in the spray mix and spray plates in the plots indicated that conditions for spraying in the morning were better than those in the evening as expected. Total control of the forest tent caterpillar with very little defoliation of the trees was achieved.

Four species of Chalcidoidea: Tetrastichus marcovitchi (Cwfd.), Tetrastichus sp., T. whitmani (Grit.), Pseudencyrtus sp., and two species of Proctotrupoidea: Platygaster abicollis MacGown and Osgood and P. mainensis MacGown and Osgood were reared and identified as parasites of the balsam fir needle gallmaker, Paradiplosis tumifex Gagné. T. marcovitchi was the most abundant. No parasites were found on or reared from Dasineura balsamicola (Lintner). The rearing technique is given.

Elemental profiles of onion maggots reared on a dried carrot based medium were monitored by X-ray energy spectrometry. Adult insects had higher levels of S, Fe, Cu, and Zn and lower levels of Cl, K, Br, and Sr than were apparently present in the medium. Addition of Rb to the larval diet resulted in a higher than normal concentration of Rb in the newly-emerged adults. This concentration of Rb decreased to ambient levels after 10 days. When Y was added to the rearing medium, it was not incorporated into the adult flies. Pupae from the Ga-supplemented diet failed to mature. The elemental profiles of male and female adults from the Rb- and Y-rearings differed significantly from the control rearings and each other. X-ray energy spectrometry shows much promise in helping define and monitor mineral requirements in insects.