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The Sudan Millet Bug, Agonoscelis versicolor, F.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

F. G. Sarel-Whitfield
F. G. Sarel-Whitfield
Affiliation:
Assistant Entomologist, Sudan Government.
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Extract

The Sudan dura (millet) bug, Agonoscelis versicolor, F., a member of the family Pentatomidae, Hemiptera Heteroptera (Rhynchota), is an important pest of millet. Its depredations vary from year to year, depending chiefly upon the rainy season, but every few years it causes serious losses of millet (Sorghum vulġare and Sorghum sp.), which is the main food crop of the Northern Sudan.

This bug is widely distributed in Africa, but so far as the writer is aware, it is only in the Sudan that it occurs as a serious pest of grain, or, indeed, as a serious pest at all. In view of this, and the little work that has been done upon it, it was felt advisable, when a severe outbreak took place in 1927, not only to concentrate upon the control but also to effect as complete a study as possible of the bionomics and essential morphology of the bug.

Upon completion of the work it was found better to publish the results as two separate papers : (1) A Sudan Government Entomological Bulletin, giving an account of the bug as a pest in the Sudan, the control measures carried out, the bionomics and parasites ; and (2) a paper for publication in a scientific journal giving the results of the morphological studies, and their relation and application to the bionomics of the insect. The present paper is the result of the latter study.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , August 1929 , pp. 209 - 224
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1929

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References

Previous References to the Habits of Agonoscelis

[1914]. Anderson, (T. J.). Ann. Rep. Dept. Agric. Br. E. Africa 1912–13, p. 128. A. puberula recorded on coffee.Google Scholar
1916. Jack, (R. W.). Rhodesia Agric. J., xiii, p. 231. A. puberula and A. erosa recorded as swarming on citrus.Google Scholar
1917. Anderson, (T. J.). Bull. Dept. Agric. Br. E. Africa, no. 2, p. 41. A. puberula on coffee.Google Scholar
1918. King, (H. H.). [Sudan Govt.] Entom. Bull. no. 8, p. 2. A. puberula on dura ; since proved to be A. versicolor.Google Scholar
1922. Cluster Bugs. J. Dept. Agric. Un. S. Africa, v, p. 398. Agonoscelis spp. clustering in trees.Google Scholar
1924. Cluster Bugs. J. Dept. Agric. Un. S. Africa, viii, p. 358. A. versicolor in sunflower seed-heads.Google Scholar
1925. Cluster Bugs. J. Dept. Agric. Un. S. Africa, x, p. 200. A. versicolor swarming on willow, pepper, eucalyptus, fruit trees and salt-bush.Google Scholar
[1925. Ritchie, (A. H.).] Rep. Dept. Agric. Tanganyika Terr. 1924–1925, p. 44. A. versicolor on cotton.Google Scholar
1928. The Cluster Bug again. Farming in S. Africa, 01 1928, reprint 2 pp. A. versicolor swarming on eucalypts, acacias and peach ; feeding on green peaches.Google Scholar