Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T18:19:22.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Bionomics of Lema melanopa, L. (Criocerinae), in Great Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

W. E. H. Hodson
W. E. H. Hodson
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Pathology, Seale-Hayne Agricultural College, Newton Abbot, Devon.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The beetle, Lema melanopa, is a serious pest of cereal crops in certain areas of Europe and is becoming increasingly common on cereals in Britain. A survey of the literature indicates that the life-history differs in various localities, and no previous account has been given of the life-history in this country.

The life-cycle in Britain is briefly as follows. The adult beetles emerge from hibernation in April, mate and commence to oviposit towards the end of May. Oviposition continues for nearly two months, and adults commence to emerge early in July and continue to do so until September. There is no indication that a second brood occurs, although the climate would permit of one.

The adults feed freely after emergence, but largely on grasses, prior to hibernating in November. In the spring they feed almost exclusively on the leaves of young cereals. The larvae feed principally on cereals. Adults tend to be gregarious and are very long-lived, numbers living over a second winter.

Two larval parasites occur in Britain and further information concerning these is being obtained. Of all larvae collected in the field 25 per cent. were found to be parasitised.

The loss of crop sustained as a result of attack by this pest amounts on the Continent, in extreme cases, to as much as 50 per cent. of the total. Control measures consist of cultural methods, spraying and dusting. Certain of these might be adapted for use in this country with reasonable hope of success.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , June 1929 , pp. 5 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1929

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

(1)Averin, V. G. Review of the Pests noticed in the Govt. of Charkov during 1913, pp. 10–65.Google Scholar
(2)Feytaud, J. Un parasite de la miliade, Lema flavipes, Suffr.—Rev. Zool. agric. & appl., xxiii, no. 7, Bordeaux, 07, 1924, pp. 158–161.Google Scholar
(3)Fowler, Rev. Canon. The Coleoptera of The British Islands, iv, London, 1890, pp. 281–282.Google Scholar
(4)Hänsel, S. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Biologie des Getreidehähnchens, Lema cyanella, L.—Zs. wiss. Insektenbiol., xix, no. 1, Berlin, 01 1924, pp. 27–29, 7 figs.Google Scholar
(5) Insect Pests of Crops, 1920–1921.—Min. Agric. Fisheries, Miscell. Publ. no. 39, London, 1923, p. 8.Google Scholar
(6)Jenkins, J. R. W.A Survey of the Insect Pests of Mid & West Wales.—Welsh Jl. Agric., iii, 1927, p. 198.Google Scholar
(7)Kadocsa, G.Crioceris melanopa, injurious to Oats and Barley in Hungary.—Kisérletugyi Kötzlemények, xviii, no. 1, Budapest, 1916, pp. 108–176, 8 plates.Google Scholar
(8)Kulagin, N. M. Insects injurious to cultivated Field Plants in European Russia in 1914.—Bull. Soc. Ent. Mosquensis, i, 11 1915, Moscow, pp. 136–161.Google Scholar
(9)Megalov, B.Lema melanopa, L., a Pest of Oats, Barley and other Graminaceous Plants.—Saratovsk. Oblastn. S. Kn. Opitn. Stantz. Ent. Otd. Saratov, 1927, 29 pp., 2 pls., 46 refs.Google Scholar
(10)Murata, J. & Ikeda, T.Lema melanopa, L., in Nagano Prefecture.—Jl. Plant Protect., xiii, no. 1, pp. 9–19, Tokyo, 01 1926.Google Scholar
(11) Report on the Work of the Ent. Dept. for 1920–1925.—Saratovsk. Oblastn. S. Kn. Opitn. Stantz. Saratov, 1925, 31 pp.Google Scholar
(12)Uvarov, B. P.Report of the Bureau of Entomology of Stavropol for the year 1912.—St. Petersburg, 1913, 32 pp.Google Scholar
(13)Vassiliev, E. M. The chief Remedies against the Larvae and Beetles of L. melanopus, L., a Pest of summer-sown Grain.—Studies from the Experimental Entomological Station of the All-Russian Society of Sugar-refiners for the year 1912, Kiev, 1913, pp. 1–2.Google Scholar
(14)Vereshtchagin, B. Experiments on the Control of L. melanopa, L., in Bessarabia.—Agriculture of Bessarabia, Kishinev, no. 19, 1924, 4 pp.Google Scholar
(15)Walton, C. L. The Agricultural Zoology of North Wales.—Dept. Agric., University College of North Wales, Bangor, 1927, p. 18.Google Scholar