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FEEDING PREFERENCES OF A FLEA BEETLE, PHYLLOTRETA CRUCIFERAE (COLEOPTERA: CHRYSOMELIDAE), AMONG WILD CRUCIFERS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
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The crucifer flea beetle, Phyllotreta cruciferae (Goeze), feeds primarily on plants in the Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) (Feeny et al. 1970). Introduced from Europe, it is now a widespread pest of canola, Brassica napus L. and Brassica rapa L., in North America (Lamb and Turnock 1982; Weiss et al. 1991). Before canola occupied so much crop land in western Canada, flea beetles were present and presumably fed mostly on wild crucifers. These native and weedy crucifers are potential sources of resistance genes that might be transferred to canola. We examine feeding preferences of flea beetles among nine wild crucifers (Table 1) to determine which, if any, are avoided. The suitability of these plants has already been examined for another crucifer-feeding chrysomelid, the red turnip beetle, Entomoscelis americana Brown (Gerber and Obadofin 1981; Gerber 1984), and the feeding responses of the beetles are compared.
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- Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1998
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