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OCCURRENCE OF CHALKBROOD CAUSED BY ASCOSPHAERA AGGREGATA SKOU IN A NATIVE LEAFCUTTING BEE, MEGACHILE PUGNATA SAY (HYMENOPTERA: MEGACHILIDAE), IN SASKATCHEWAN

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

D.W. Goerzen ,
L. Dumouchel  and
J. Bissett
D.W. Goerzen
Affiliation:
Saskatchewan Alfalfa Seed Producers Association, 107 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 0X2
L. Dumouchel
Affiliation:
Centre for Land and Biological Resources Research, Agriculture Canada, Research Branch, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0C6
J. Bissett
Affiliation:
Centre for Land and Biological Resources Research, Agriculture Canada, Research Branch, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0C6
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Extract

The alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata (Fab.), is a domesticated pollinator important for alfalfa seed production in western Canada. Populations of M. rotundata are highly susceptible to chalkbrood, a disease caused by the fungus Ascosphaera aggregata Skou. The disease has caused high mortalities in M. rotundata populations in the northwestern United States since 1972. It was found in Manitoba in 1982, Alberta in 1983, and Saskatchewan in 1984 (Richards 1985). In subsequent surveys, A. aggregata has been detected only sporadically and at low levels of infection in Saskatchewan M. rotundata populations (Goerzen 1991). A previously reported observation of A. aggregata in the native leafcutting bee M. relativa Cresson (Goerzen et al. 1990) indicated that the disease is present in native leafcutting bee species which commonly immigrate into alfalfa leafcutting bee nest material.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 124 , Issue 3 , June 1992 , pp. 557 - 558
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1992

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