Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T18:09:42.633Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Observations on the ecology of Saccharosydne saccharivora (Westw.) (Hom., Delphacidae) in Jamaican sugar-cane fields

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

J. R. Metcalfe
J. R. Metcalfe
Affiliation:
Sugar Manufacturers' Association (of Jamaica) Ltd., Mandeville, Jamaica
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Between 1961 and 1967 intensive and extensive field studies on the sugar-cane pest Saccharosydne saccharivora (Westw.) were carried out in Jamaica (with supplementary observations from British Honduras). Egg populations were scored for size, and egg mortality and nymph-adult parasitism were estimated directly. In epidemic, but not endemic, populations, successive generations of the pest were segregated and their development was synchronised over areas of up to 80 miles2 despite its 6½—7-week life-cycle and potential for continuous breeding. Segregation was due to the sterilising action of the parasite Stenocranophilus quadrat us Pierce (Halictophagidae); in the drier months this spread so rapidly through the nymph and adult population that oviposition ceased until the first adults of the next generation reached maturity. In the wet season this effect was complemented by the entomogenous fungus Metarrhizium anisopliae. Synchronisation was ensured by the dispersal of parasitised adult Saccharosydne saccharivora before oviposition. In ratoon cane there were six or seven generations between successive annual harvests; egg populations were highest in generations 1–3 (up to 1·0×106/chain-row (≡2O·2-m row-length)), and declined in old cane irrespective of season. In plant cane, egg populations did not show a decline with age and sometimes increased. In epidemic areas a factor associated with older cane sometimes caused over 90% egg mortality; elsewhere Tetrastichus sp. (Eulophidae) was the leading cause of egg mortality (ca 30%). Data from extensive surveys showed that the early stages of outbreaks were invariably associated with plant cane; heavy infestations rarely occurred on cane subjected to adverse growing conditions; and populations were smaller on the variety B42231 than on B4362 and B41227. Outbreak periods since the 18th century have been associated with periods of prosperity within the sugar industry, when presumably more attention was paid to improving production. Rainfall, in that it improves cane growth, is beneficial to S. saccharivora, whereas drought is detrimental; published records of outbreaks in dry periods are due to the preference of migrating adults for young cane which is most prevalent in the dry season. It is concluded that the essential prerequisite for an outbreak is plant cane growing under favourable climatic and agricultural conditions; present conditions, namely the long harvest period, high standards of cultivation, irrigation and fertiliser practice, and favourable cane varieties together offer the minimum chance for a natural end to outbreaks.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 60 , Issue 4 , June 1971 , pp. 565 - 597
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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

Anon. (1912). Insect notes. The cane fly in Martinique.—Agric. News, Bridgetown 11, 234.Google Scholar
Anon. (1945). Rep. Dep. Sci. Agric. Jamaica 1943–44, 6.Google Scholar
Anon. (1953). Rep. Res. Dep. Sug. Mfrs' Ass. Jamaica 1953, 18–19.Google Scholar
Anon. (1958). Rep. Res. Dep. Sug. Mfrs' Ass. Jamaica 1958, 21–26.Google Scholar
Anon. (1959). Rep. Res. Dep. Sug. Mfrs' Ass. Jamaica 1959, 30–37.Google Scholar
Anon. (1960). Rep. Res. Dep. Sug. Mfrs' Ass. Jamaica 1960, 38–40.Google Scholar
Anon. (1964). Rep. Res. Dep. Sug. Mfrs' Ass. Jamaica 1964, 27.Google Scholar
Ashby, D. G. (1954). The canefly with particular reference to its occurrence on Caymanas Estate.—26+3 pp. Mandeville, Jamaica, Pest Control. (Unpublished.)Google Scholar
Ballou, H. A. (1905 a). Review of insect pests affecting sugar cane.—W. Indian Bull. 6, 37–47.Google Scholar
Ballou, H. A. (1905 b). Insect notes. The canefly.—Agric. News, Bridgetown 4, 314.Google Scholar
Barber, C. A. (1893). Report on diseases affecting the sugar cane in Barbados 1893.—Suppl. Leeward Isl. Gaz.Google Scholar
Bassieres, E. (1912). La maladie de la canne a sucre a Martinique.—Sucr. indig. colon. 79, 27–32.Google Scholar
Beckford, W. (1790). A descriptive account of the island of Jamaica, vol. 1.—404 pp. London, T. & J. Edgerton.Google Scholar
Bennett, F. D. (1959 a). Report on a visit to Jamaica to investigate an outbreak of canefly. February 1959.—7 pp. St. Augustine, Trinidad, Commonw. Inst. biol. Control. (Unpublished)Google Scholar
Bennett, F. D. (1959 b). Investigations on sugar cane insects in Jamaica. June-August 1959.—28 pp. St. Augustine, Trinidad, Commonw. Inst. biol. Control. (Unpublished)Google Scholar
Bennett, F. D. (1959 c). Canefly investigations in Jamaica during November-December 1959.—14 pp. St Augustine, Trinidad, Commonw. Inst. biol. Control. (Unpublished)Google Scholar
Blackburn, F. H. B. (1954). Further developments in froghopper control.—Proc. Br. W. Indies Sug. Technol. 1954, 137–140.Google Scholar
Bovell, J. R. (1892). In Barbados—sugar cane diseases 1889–1901. Collection of unpublished MSS in Herbarium Library, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.Google Scholar
Box, H. E. (1933). An early reference to sugar cane entomology in the British West Indies.—Circ. W. India Comm. 48, 427–428.Google Scholar
Box, H. E. (1950). The more important pests of sugar cane in northern Venezuela.—Proc. Hawaii, ent. Soc. 14, 41–51.Google Scholar
Box, H. E. (1953). The history and changing status of some neotropical pests of sugar cane.—Int. Congr. Ent. 9 (2), 254–259.Google Scholar
Browne, P. (1756). The civil and natural history of Jamaica.—502 pp. London, Osbourne & Shipton.Google Scholar
Carnegie, A. J. M. (1966). Progress of an untreated outbreak of Numicia viridis Muir.—Proc. S. Afr. Sug. Technol. Ass. 1966, 319–327.Google Scholar
Carnegie, A. J. M. (1967 a). Report on a visit to Swaziland and a brief review of the present status of Numicia viridis Muir.—18 pp. Mount Edgecumbe, South Africa, Exp. Stn S. Afr. Sug. Ass.Google Scholar
Carnegie, A. J. M. (1967 b). Field populations of Numicia viridis Muir.—Proc. S. Afr. Sug. Technol. Ass. 1967, repr. 3 pp.Google Scholar
Clarke, W. B. (1834). On certain recent meteoric phenomena, vicissitudes in the seasons, prevalent disorders etc., contemporaneous, and in supposed connection, with volcanic emanations.—Mag. nat. Hist. 7, 193–202; 609–630.Google Scholar
Dash, J. S. (1916). Rep. Dep. Agric. Barbados 1914–15, 38–44.Google Scholar
Dick, J. (1963). The hidden menace. The green leaf-sucker of sugar cane Numicia viridis Muir.—Bull. Exp. Stn S. Afr. Sug. Ass. 15, 2 pp.Google Scholar
Dick, J. (1967). Four years of Numicia survey.—Proc. S. Afr. Sug. Technol. Ass. 1967, repr. 3 pp.Google Scholar
Edwards, B. (1794). The history, civil and commercial, of the British colonies in the West Indies, vol. 2.—2nd edn, 520 pp. London, John Stockdale.Google Scholar
Edwards, W. H. (1936). Rep. Dep. Sci. Agric. Jamaica 1935, 76–80.Google Scholar
Edwards, W. H. (1941). The economic significance of pests affecting sugar cane in Jamaica and an outline of surveys in canefields to investigate conditions which may cause low yields in ratoons.—Jamaican Ass. Sug. Technol. Q. 3 (4), 2–20.Google Scholar
Fennah, R. G. (1945). The Fulgoroidea, or lantern flies, of Trinidad and adjacent parts of South America.—Proc. U.S. natn. Mus. 95, 411–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fennah, R. G. (1969). Damage to sugar cane by Fulgoroidea and related insects in relation to the metabolic state of the host plant. In Williams, J. R. et al. (Eds.) Pests of sugar Cane pp. 367–389. Amsterdam, Elsevier.Google Scholar
Flores Caceres, S. (1967). Nueva plaga de la cafia de azucar en Mexico (Saccharosydne saccharivora Westw.).—Folia ent. Mex. no. 15–16, 13–14.Google Scholar
Girault, A. A. (1914). Notes on the Hymenoptera, Trichogrammatidae and Mymaridae.—Can. Ent. 46, 327–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gosse, P. H. (1851). A naturalist's sojourn in Jamaica.—508 pp. London, Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans.Google Scholar
Gowdey, C. C. (1923). The principal agricultural pests of Jamaica. III. Insect pests of sugar cane.—Ent. Bull. Dep. Agric. Jamaica 2, 15–23.Google Scholar
Gowdey, C. C. (1925). Rep. Dep. Sci. Agric. Jamaica 1924, 17–20.Google Scholar
Gowdey, C. C. (1927). Rep. Dep. Sci. Agric. Jamaica 1926, 16–17.Google Scholar
Gowdey, C. C. (1928). Rep. Dep. Sci. Agric. Jamaica 1927, 20–21.Google Scholar
Grainger, J. (1764). The sugar-cane—a poem.—167 pp. London, R. & J. Dodsley.Google Scholar
Greathead, D. J. (1970). A study of the host relations of Halictophagus pontifex Fox (Strepsiptera), a parasite of Cercopidae (Hem., Aphrophorinae), in Uganda.—Bull. ent. Res. 60, 33–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guagliumi, P. (1953). El saltahoja de la cafia de azucar Saccharosydne saccharivora Westw. y la fumagina en Venezuela.—Boln tec. Inst. nac. Agric. Venez. 7, 82 pp.Google Scholar
Hall, M. (1881 a). Weather report no. 3 for the month of August 1881.—Jamaica Gaz., reprint 4 pp.Google Scholar
Hall, M. (1881 b). Weather report no. 5 for the month of September 1881.—Jamaica Gaz., reprint 3 pp. with additions and corrections.Google Scholar
Hall, M. (1881 c). Weather report no. 7 for the month of November 1881.—Jamaica Gaz-, reprint 3 pp. with additions and corrections.Google Scholar
Hall, M. (1882 a). Weather report no. 8 for the month of December 1881.—Jamaica Gaz., reprint 4 pp.Google Scholar
Hall, M. (1882 b). Weather report no. 9 for the month of January 1882.—Jamaica Gaz., reprint 3 pp.Google Scholar
Hall, M. (1882 c). Weather report no. 10 for the month of February 1882.—:Jamaica Gaz., reprint 4 pp.Google Scholar
Hall, M. (1882 d). Weather report no. 11 for the month of March 1882.—Jamaica Gaz., reprint 4 pp.Google Scholar
Hall, M. (1882 e). Weather report no. 12 for the month of April 1882.—Jamaica Gaz., reprint 4 pp.Google Scholar
Hall, M. (1882 f). Weather report no. 13 for the month of May 1882.—Jamaica Gaz., reprint 4 pp.Google Scholar
Hall, M. (1882 g). Weather report no. 14 for the month of June 1882.—Jamaica Gaz., reprint 4 pp.Google Scholar
Hall, M. (1882 h). Weather report no. 15 for the month of July 1882.—Jamaica Gaz., reprint 4 pp.Google Scholar
Hall, M. (1886). Weather report no. 64 for the month of March 1886.—Jamaica Gaz., reprint 4 pp. with additions and corrections.Google Scholar
Hall, M. (1887). Weather report no. 74 for the month of December 1886.—Jamaica Gaz.. reprint 5 pp. with additions and corrections.Google Scholar
Harris, R. H. G. (1968). Nitrogen in sugar cane and the fecundity of Numicia viridis Muir.—Proc. S. Afr. Sug. Technol. Ass. 1968, repr. 4 pp.Google Scholar
Ingram, J. W., Bynum, E. K., Mathes, A., Haley, W. E. & Charpentier, L. J. (1951). Pests of sugar cane and their control.—Circ. U.S. Dep. Agric. 878, 38 pp.Google Scholar
Ingram, J. W.Jaynes, H. A. & Lobdell, R. N. (1939). Sugar cane pests in Florida.—Proc. int. Soc. Sug. Cane Technol. 6, 89–98.Google Scholar
James, H. C. (1954). Economic entomology in Jamaica.—Bull. Dep. Agric. Jamaica 53, 22–27.Google Scholar
Johnstone, H. C. (1834). Notes on the continued ravages of the Delphax saccharivora upon the sugar cane of the West Indian islands.—Proc. ent. Soc. Lond. 1, 27–28.Google Scholar
Johnstone, H. C. (1835). Proc. ent. Soc. Lond. 1, 70.Google Scholar
Khanna, K. L., Nigam, A. L. & Bandyopadhyay, K. S. (1950). Studies in sampling technique. Part II. Estimation of Pyrilla incidence in sugar cane.—Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. 31 (B), 34–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathur, R. N. & Gupta, B. D. (1940). An analysis of the facts underlying the deterioration of the sugar cane crop in the districts of Meerut and Muzaffanargar during the season 1937–1938.—Proc. Sug. Technol. Ass. India 9, 1–10.Google Scholar
Maxwell-Lefroy, H. (1901). Insect pests of sugar cane.—W. Indian Bull. 2, 41–44.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, J. R. (1964). The chemical control of canefly {Saccharosydne saccharivora (Westw.) (Horn.: Delphacidae)) in Jamaica.—J.A.S.T.JI. 25, 39–44.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, J. R. (1966). Report on a visit to study canefly (Saccharosydne saccharivora (Westw.)) in British Honduras, 14th April to 3rd May, 1966.—Tech. Bull. Sug. Mfrs' Ass. Jamaica 2/66, 9 pp.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, J. R. (1969). Studies on the biology of the sugar-cane pest Saccharosydne saccharivora (Westw.) (Horn., Delphacidae).—Bull. ent. Res. 59, 393–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Metcalfe, J. R. (1970). Studies on the effect of the nutrient status of sugar-cane on the fecundity of Saccharosydne saccharivora (Westw.) (Horn., Delphacidae).—Bull. ent. Res. 60, 309–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, D. (1882). Correspondence relating to the aphis blight on sugar cane in Jamaica with suggestions for remedial measures.—4 pp. Kingston, Jamaica, Govt. Printing Establ.Google Scholar
Morris, D. (1884). Rep. publ. Gdns Plantns Jamaica 1883, 1–20.Google Scholar
Morris, R. F. (1955). The development of sampling techniques for forest insect defoliators, with particular reference to the spruce budworm.—Can. J. Zool. 33, 225–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muir, F. (1929). New and little-known African Delphacidae (Homoptera, Fulgoroidea) in the collection of the British Museum.—Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (10) 4, 186–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, P. W. (1912). The cane fly. (Delphax saccharivora).—Bull. Dep. Agric. Jamaica 2, 78–80.Google Scholar
Myers, J. G. (1931). A preliminary report on an investigation into the biological control of West Indian insect pests.—Publs. Emp. Mktg Bd 42, 173 pp.Google Scholar
Nowell, W. (1913). Rep. Dep. Agric. Barbados 1912–13, 34–45.Google Scholar
Pemberton, C. E. (1919). Leafhopper investigations in Hawaii.—Hawaii. Firs' Rec. 21, 194–221.Google Scholar
Pierce, W. D. (1918). The comparative morphology of the order Strepsiptera.—Proc. U.S. natn. Mus. 54, 391–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, A. H. (1916). Rep. Dep. Agric. Jamaica 1915–16, 31–34.Google Scholar
Ritchie, A. H. (1917). Rep. Dep. Agric. Jamaica 1916–17, 28–34.Google Scholar
Scaramuzza, L. C. (1940). Insect and other animals attacking sugar cane in Cuba.—Mems Asoc. Tec. azuc. Cuba 14, 105–127.Google Scholar
Simmonds, F. J. (1953). Report on a visit to Jamaica, October 3–11, 1953.—9 pp. St. Augustine, Trinidad, Commonw. Inst. biol. Control. (Unpublished).Google Scholar
Smyth, E. G. (1919). List of insect and mite pests of sugar cane.—J. Dep. Agric. P. Rico, 3, 135–150.Google Scholar
Southwood, T. R. E. (1966). Ecological methods with particular reference to the study of insect populations.—391 pp. London, Methuen.Google Scholar
Spencer Heaven, De B. (1881). Cultivation of the sugar cane in Jamaica.—Jamaica Handbook 1881, 154–161.Google Scholar
Urich, F. W. (1915). Insects affecting the sugar cane in Trinidad.—Bull. Dep. Agric. Trin. Tobago 14, 156–161.Google Scholar
Van Dine, D. L. (1912). Bull. Porto Rico Sug. Prod. Exp. Stn 2, 15–22.Google Scholar
Wadley, F. M. (1937). Observations on some insects associated with sugar cane in Puerto Rico.—/. Agric. Univ. P. Rico 21, 103–114.Google Scholar
Westwood, J. O. (1833). A notice of the ravages of canefly on the sugar cane of Grenada.—Mag. nat. Hist. 6, 407–413.Google Scholar
Westwood, J. O (1834). Information on the canefly of Grenada (Delphax saccharivora) additional to that given in Vol. VI.—Mag. nat. Hist. 7, 496.Google Scholar
Williams, J. R. (1957). The sugar-cane Delphacidae and their natural enemies in Mauritius.—Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 109, 65–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolcott, G. N. (1913). Report on a trip to Demerara, Trinidad and Barbados during the winter of 1913.—/. econ. Ent. 6, 443–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolcott, G. N. (1921). The minor sugar-cane insects of Puerto Rico.—J. Dep. Agric. P. Rico 5 (2), 5–46.Google Scholar
Wolcott, G. N. (1923). Insectae Portoricensis.—J. Dep. Agric. P. Rico 7, 1–313.Google Scholar
Wolcott, G. N. (1927). Entomologie d'Haiti.—Port au Prince Serv. tech. Dep. Agric, 440 pp.Google Scholar
Wolcott, G. N. (1951). The insects of Puerto Rico.—/. Agric. Univ. P. Rico 32, 1–975.Google Scholar