Notes on Lixus Concavus

434 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 5 NOTES ON LIXUS CONCAVUS By HARRY B. WEISS, New Brunswick, N. J. This beetle commonly known as the rhubarb curculio emerges from its winter quarters about the last week of May in the latitude of New Brunswick. It hibernates, presumably under debris commonly found in the field, inasmuch as two specimens were taken last December from under dead leaves and rubbish and one from under a loose piece' of bark at the base of a stump. Careful searches at different times later in the winter resulted in none being found. Egg deposition commences soon after emergence, as eggs were col- Downloaded from lected in the field on the first of June in the stems of Rumex crispus, which is undoubtedly the favorite food plant of the larvre. Sun- flower and thistle were examined for egg punctures with negative results and in one instance only, eggs were found in a species of poly- gonum or smartweed. http://jee.oxfordjournals.org/ In dock the egg punctures occur from the base of the stem all the way to the tip of the plant and it is not uncommon to find from fif- teen to twenty punctures in a stem three feet high. Occasionally . they occur in the leaf petiole. Not all of these punctures, however, contain eggs, only a comparatively few. Upon cutting into some stems, many egg cavities were found to be empty and the surround- ing tissue showed no evidence of larval activity. Other stems showed by guest on June 9, 2016 many empty egg cavities together with channels eaten by the first hatched larv::e. Sometimes these channels cut through egg cavities and other times cleared them. In either case more egg cavities were empty than should have been the case, especially as only one or two larv::e were usually found. From this one is forced to conclude that the beetles are either often disturbed during oviposition and get no further than the cutting of the cavity, or that the first larv::e which hatch out eat any eggs they may come across on their way to the root. No matter how many egg punctures are in a stem, not more than two or three larvre can be found early in the season and later not more than one. In the laboratory, eggs hatched in from seven to nine days during June and in the field egg laying continued up until July 20, after which no eggs were found. Egg deposition, however, is practically over by the middle of June as on June 19 one egg was found to eighteen larvre. The newly hatched larva first eats out a little chamber about a quar- ter of an inch or less above the egg cavity. This is really an enlarge- .ment of the egg cavity. It then goes down through the stem, cutting a more or less irregular channel, until the root is reached, where it December, '12] WEISS: LIXUS CONCAVUS 435 remains and does practically all of its feeding until full grown. There is one exception to this. Where the stem is thick and does not dry out rapidly, some larval eat a fairly large cavity in the base of the stem before attacking the root. When the larval are young it is possible to find two or three in different portions of a single stem. Later, however, one to a single plant is the rule except where the root is large and supports several stems, then it is possible to find as many as three occupying different parts of the root. On seven different occasions I found larvre feeding upon other larvre and I feel that this explains the fact that only one larva is found in a plant containing numerous egg punctures. Inasmuch as they are carnivorous, they undoubtedly devour eggs also. Downloaded from The first born larva evidently makes its way down the stem and feeds on any eggs into which its channel may cut. The second hatching from a place above the first or from an egg which escaped the first also makes its way down the stem and lives only until it reaches the cavity in the root made by the first, when it is devoured, assuming http://jee.oxfordjournals.org/ that the largest is always the victor. The second may also cat some eggs on the way down. I imagine that this procedure is kept up until only one remains. If the first larva goes some distance down in the root, larvre hatching later may live longer if they cut a different channel, but in a small root supporting only one stem, the cavities are bound to run together and not m:lre than one is found in a root of this kind. Undoubtedly some of the eggs which are laid late are crushed by guest on June 9, 2016 by the drying and contraction of the stem, as by July 3 the tops of many plants are dry and brown. From a large root supporting five stems, containing fifty-eight egg punctures, only three larval were found and these were in different cavities. Of course some of these punctures may have been made for feeding purposes, but as the beetles also feed on the edges of the leaves, it seems somewhat unlikely that they would prefer the harder tissue of the stems. From eight to nine weeks are required by the larvre to reach matur- ity and in middle and south Jersey the majority are full grown by the second week in August. Owing to the period over which oviposition extends it is, of course, possible to find larvre only one third grown at this date. As late as August 14, I have taken larvre one third grown, full grown larvre, pupre and an immature beetle all on the same day. In the field the first pupre were collected August 1 and the first adults on August 6. From the second to the fourth week in August, the majority in the field were undergoing pupation and during the first week in September many adults emerged. By September 11 practically all had emerged. 436 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 5 The pupal period as determined in the laboratory, varied from ten to twelve days. Pupation takes place in cells of varying lengths, the tops of which are always on a level with the surface of the ground. ' When ready to emerge, the beetle cuts an oval opening about three sixteenths of an inch in diameter in the now dry stem usually an inch or two above the ground. If the weather is warm it feeds somewhat on the young leaves around the base of the dock, but from the scarcity of beetles in the field after the first week in September, they evidently go into winter quarters soon after emerging. If Rumex criSptlS is cut off several inches from the ground between the middle and end of July ~nd rain occurs soon afterwards, a large Downloaded from percentage of the larvre will die owing to the decay which sets in, practically all being in the roots at that time. http://jee.oxfordjournals.org/ THE SUGAR-BEET WEB WORM Loxostege st'icticalis Linn F. B. PADDOCK, College Station, Texas The investigation represented in this paper was stimulated by an outbreak of the pest in the sugar-beet fields of Colorado in the summer of 1909. At that time the insect had inflicted severe damage before by guest on June 9, 2016 the growers were aware of it and were at a loss for control measures. A s,i'milaroutbreak had occurred in 1903 but had evidently been of short duration. The writer endeavOl:ed to determine the life history and habits of the insect in that locality and to find, if possible, some control measures. "For some reason writers on this species appear to have overlooked the fact that it is not native, but introduced from abroad, presumably on the Pacific coast, whence it spread eastward to Colorado and Ne- braska. From specimens in the National Museum it seems that the insect was collected at Palmer, Utah, in July, 1869, which is evidence that it must have been introduced many years earlier. In 1873, it was taken in Central Missouri. It is also recorded from Winnipeg, Manitoba, as wen as from severallooalities in Nebraska, Kansas and Michigan." 1 The insect made its first appearance in Colorado in 1891 but did not become a pest until 1903.2 In Nebraska the first outbreak of the 1 Chittenden, F. H. Bureau of Entomology Bulletin, ~o. 33 pp. 46-49. • Gillette, C. P. Colorado ExperimC:'ntStation Bulletin No. 98..

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