Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T10:21:54.691Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

BIOLOGY OF STEREMNIUS CARINATUS (COLEOPTERA: CURCULIONIDAE), A REFORESTATION PEST IN COASTAL BRITISH COLUMBIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

S. F. Condrashoff
Affiliation:
Forest Research Laboratory, Department of Forestry and Rural Development, Victoria, British Columbia

Abstract

Steremnius carinatus (Boheman), once considered a scavenger, has become recognized as a pest of coniferous seedlings. The weevils breed in roots of fresh stumps and in buried slash on logged areas, and adults emerge by the end of the second summer after logging. Adults girdle young seedlings from near the root collar to 1 in. above ground level, but seldom attack the second year after planting. Adult weevils are long-lived, and can survive three or more winters, establishing broods each spring. They eat a wide variety of vegetation and fruits and other materials containing sugars and starches. Greenhouse trials demonstrated selective feeding on seedlings and field tests showed that the weevils breed in most coastal coniferous species in British Columbia. Rates of brood development ranged from 2 months at 80°F to 24 months in unheated outdoor conditions. Differences in rates of development, apparently related to temperature, were found between localities. Phloem may be suitable for oviposition 2 years after logging, but often is depleted by the feeding of other bark-mining beetles. Although some weevil damage is caused by emergents from stumps on rights-of-way, damage from larger populations emerging later from newly-cut sites may be reduced by planting immediately after cutting.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1968

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

Carter, E. E. 1916. Hylobius pales as a factor in the reproduction of conifers in New England. Proc. Soc. Am. Foresters 2: 297307.Google Scholar
Condrashoff, S. F., and Kinghorn, J. M.. 1963. Preliminary report of a seedling weevil, Steremnius carinatus (Boh.) in British Columbia. Information Rep. Can. Dep. Forestry, Forest Ent. and Path. Lab., Victoria, B.C.Google Scholar
Condrashoff, S. F. 1966. A description of the immature stages of Steremnius carinatus (Boheman) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Can. Ent. 98: 663667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doane, R. W., Van Dyke, E. C., Chamberlin, W. J., and Burke, H. E.. 1936. Forest insects. 1st ed. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York and London.Google Scholar
Finnegan, R. J. 1956. Weevils attacking pines in southern Ontario. Bi-mm. Prog. Rep. Div. Fmest Biol., Ottawa 12(2): 3.Google Scholar
Finnegan, R. J. 1958. The pine weevil, Pissodes approximatus Hopk., in southern Ontario. Can. Ent. 90: 348354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finnegan, R. J. 1959. The pales weevil, Hylobius pales (Hbst.) in southern Ontario. Can. Ent. 91: 664670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friend, R. B., and Chamberlin, H. H.. 1942. Connecticut State Entomologist, forty-first report, 1941. Bull. Conn. agric. Exp. Stn 461: 463548.Google Scholar
Lejeune, R. R. 1962. A new reforestation problem caused by a weevil Steremnius carinatus (Boh.). Bi-mon. Prog. Rep. Can. Dep. For. 18(6): 3.Google Scholar
McMinn, R. C. 1960. Water relations and forest distribution in the Douglas fir region on Vancouver Island. Can. Dep. Agric. Publ. 1091.Google Scholar
Molnar, A. C., and Cottrell, C. B.. 1960. A whole-bark method of rearing Dryocoetes confusus Sw. Proc. ent. Soc. Br. Columb. 57: 1620.Google Scholar
Nordic Forest Entomologists' Research Group. 1962. Studies on Hylobius abietis L. 1. Development and life cycle in Nordic countries. Acta ent. fenn. 17.Google Scholar
Peirson, H. B. 1921. The life history and control of the pales weevil (Hylobius pales). Bull. Harv. Forest 3: 133.Google Scholar