Notes on Some Hemiptera Which Have Been Introduced Into British Columbia W

ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BRlTISH COL UMB IA , PROC. (1. 957), VOL. 54, D EC. 1.6, 1957 11.

NOTES ON SOME HEMIPTERA WHICH HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED INTO BRITISH COLUMBIA W. D OWNES Victoria, B.C.

J n ~ pi te u t: th e best etfu rts o f thc H elerolollla merio plem lit Scup, This illspection ser vic e, f()reign insects find curious ,Mirid is a Eurupcan species thcir way int() this pruYlIlce from time which was recorded by Knight in t() time and som c frum ea stcrn Canada [917 from Kew York a nd is now found a nd the t Tni tcd States. Whilc fre in British Columbia. It is ve ry COI11- (IUc ntly spccic s which arc must un m on on Southern Vancou vcr lslani II'e!com e obtain access. we havc, and the lo wer mainland, VI/e took it \Ii t hin thc la st fift y \'ears. received first at Ccdar Hill, V ictoria, in 1933 some which may ilro,'e of di stinct w here it was swept fr0 111 broom t'conomic lalut'. j\[y rem:.lrks are bushcs; but it is abundant on almost hased UP()II ex p c ri e n~'e in collecting any kind of hcrbage and brush. It J lemiptera in I\ritish Columbia since is dark brown or black a nd can be ] 917. recug-nized at once by the first tlY O PhyJO(GJ'is Ii/iae J.. Thi s handsom e j uints of the an tennae being swollen .\Lirid has probably been present in and thickly clothed with dark ha irs: l\ritish Columbia fur a considerable the t hird a;1c1 fourth joints a rc bare and ti me. I t is fairl v cummon in Hritain filiform. Little o r nothing seem s to and bclongs tu , ~ family known to be be known of ih life histurv but it does largely predaceous in habit. Usually not appear to be harmful"in any way. it is brightly mottled with light green Dicyphlls palliJicomis Fieb. This and black. J t is to bc found on trec European species was sent to m c from trunks, cspecially deciduuus trees, and Vancouver in 1944, but it has been occasionally on wooden fences. In prcsent in \i\fe stern North A mcrica for 191 8 to 1923 I founci it commoll on a considerable time, having been pl-e houl evard trees in Van CO l1\'cr's wcst viously reported from Orcgon. Its end at the fo od of Georgia and nearby onl y known host is Digilalis, a nd if it strects, often accompanied by the confined its a ttentions to the common slendcr thread-legged bug, Empicoris ga rden foxglove no grea t ha rl11 would Pi/OSIIS (Fieb.), another predaccous be done. But it also attacks the species. In 1954 T looked fo r it again medicina l Digitalis which is g rown in in Vancouver and found it abundant some quantity in the Victo ria district, ()n two decaying deciduo us trces at and damages the plants extensively. thc foot of Robson Street, on this It can be controlled by spraying with occasion accompanied by numbers of DDT. Thcre are several generations another Phyl GCO ris species new to B.C., during the summer; the last genera (apparently the European P. dimidiatlls, ti on is ll sually brachypterous and hut no t yet definitcly idcntified). Al hibernates among dead leaves and at though present on the mainland for thc base of t he plants. The specics is sllch a lo ng- period P. liliae has not yet abundant up and down the coast of I>ecn found on Vancouver Island. British Columbia wherever foxgloves /Hefanotrichlfs collc% r Kbm. Th isis are grown, another European 1Vlirid which fe eds Iln broom, CytiS/ls scoparius. The in sect CaJl1py/onellra ~irg1lIa F icb. This is g-rcen, of ahout the same shade as pretty specic s is allied to Dicyphlls thc host. This spccies was fir st noticed which it closely resembles. It is a on Vancouver Island in the late twen native of Europe where it is knovv n to ti es. It is said not to be ,"cry abundant be a n e ffi cient mite destroye r. My first in Britain, hut on Vancouver ] sland record of it was in 1949 at Cold stream it swarms on the broom bushes to on Vancouver J sland wherc it , vas which it is definitely InJUrIOU S, swcpt from alder trees a nd nettles. 12 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOClI!TY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, PROC. (19~7) , VOl. 54, DEC. 16, 1957

It has since been taken in small num Graphocephala coccinea (Forst.). This bers at various points near Victoria leafhopper, which is common in East and on the lower mainland. The in ern Canada in shady woods, was sect is yellowish, the wings hyaline numerous on rhododendrons at a tinged with yellow, the thorax with a nursery outside Victoria in 1941. I t broad band of yellow, the base of is strikingly marked with broad the scutellum yellow, the apex white. stripes of recl and green. It does not The cuneus is bright yellow, the apical seem to have spread in the Victoria portion orange-red. I have swept it area, but may still be present on from alders, poplars and various kinds rhododendron. of brush. It may prove to be a useful addition to our fauna. Stictocephala bubalus (Fab.). The buf falo treehopper was not known as a OrilJs minutus L. This small Antho native species in this province prior corid was discovered by Norman to 1920, when I received a specimen Tonks on Lulu Island on the lower collected on the Agassiz Experimental mainland in 1951 on raspberries and Farm where it had probably been in logans. It is a European species com troduced on nursery stock. A few mon in Britain. Our only known years later S. bubaills appeared in the native species is Orius insidiosus from southern Okanagan, but this may have which minlJtus is readily distinguished been a separate introduction. The by its overall brown colour and broader species is now well established. It outline. O. minutus is predaceous on does harm to several kinds of fruit mites and small insects and may prove trees by ovipositing in the twigs. to be a useful species. So far the lower mainland is the only locality Stictoce phala diceros (Say). This IS record. recorded only from Agassiz, B.C., from where I received a number of Gargara genistae Fab. This is one of specimens in 1925 and 1926, but none the only two species of treehoppers since. It does not appear to have found in Britain. It has previously spread, and has never been recorded been known to occur in New Jersey from interior districts. It was probab where it was taken in 1917. In 1934 ly introduced from eastern Canada in I took it at Cedar Hill, Victoria, on nursery stock. broom. Since that time G. genislae has spread to Goldstream eleven miles Macropsis juscula Zett. This European west. It is not known to be injurious. species appeared on logans and rasp berries on Lulu Island in the lower Arytaina spartiophila (Forst.). In 1949 F'raser Valley in 1952 and within a this Psyllid occurred in enormous year increased to enormous numbers. numbers on broom, Cytislls scoparius. By 1954 it had spread 30 miles up the That was the first year it had been Fraser Valley where it was found on recorded in British Columbia. It has varieties of wild mblJs. The introduc been introduced from Europe and was tion of this species is most unfortunate first recorded at Fort Lewis, Wash on account of the hazard to the logan ington, in 1935. When in la rge num berry industry. It has already spread bers it does heavy injury to broom. to Vancouver Island, which was to be This is not entirely to be deplored expected, si nce the site of the orig in si nce, over the years, broom has form al infestation is close to the airport. ed dense thickets, often eight feet Without such a rtificial means of dis high on the Goldstream hills. Such tribution it might have been confined thickets are a fire hazard, and effec to the lower mainland for a long period tually smother second g rowth. A as has been the case with other check to the advance of broom may species. This occurrence has been prove to be an advantage. Many areas adequately reported elsewhere by H . formerly in grass are now covered Anclison (Can. Ins. Pest Rev. 32(1) : 4. with broom. 1954) .) ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY or BRITISH COLUMBIA, PilOc. (1957), VOL. 54, DEC. 16, 1957 13

Macropsis virescms var. graminea (Fab.). Aliyglls mix/lis (Fab.). This large This was first taken by me at Haney handsomely marked European leaf on poplars in 1954. It is a European hopper was first noticed on Vancouver species now widely distributed in Island in 1948, but probably it had North America but is not expected to arrived some years earlier since it was prove of any particular economic Im already well distributed over the portance. southern districts. It is an active Idiocems decimllsqllartus Schr. This flier, so its spread could be quite name now takes precedence in the rapid. It now occurs on the mainland, case of this leafhopper which was long breeding on oak and other deciduous known as ldiocerus sCflrra. It is another trees and on snowberry (Symphori denizen of poplar trees and is known carpus). So far it has not proved in to have been present on the lower JUrious. mainland since 1922, when I received a specimen collected a t New West There are several other species minster. This is a European species, which have been edging their way present in North America for a long across the continent for years, but time, which may have come to British cannot be mentioned here. Others Columbia in the egg stage in the first will, no doubt, continue to arrive; it is poplars brought here. Like several some comfort to know that, in the other species it has apparently not yet case of Hemiptera, many are harm succeeded in crossing to Vancouver Js land. less, and some are definitely beneficial.

An unusual flight of termites

Emergence of alate first reproductives of foulld them packed with termites. One the most commonly occurring termite in the time residents of Gambier Island have assur lower Fraser Valley, Zootermopsis anguslicol/is ed me that they have frequently watched Hagen, may occur during almost any month this behaviour amongst large gulls also. so of the year (Jacob, ]. K. The Termites of it is probably general along our coasts British Columbia, their structure, bionomics wherever termites swarm. Normally, off a nd in testinal fauna. Unpublished Masters' Point Grey, this fli ght occurs from 300 to Thesis, U niversity of Dritish Columbia, 1938) . 500 feet above ground and extends inland I have personallv observed them from J anu from the sea beaches for possibly one ary to May and from Aug-ust to November. quarter of a mile. But in the early evening Fo r some vears now I have watched the o f Aug-ust I, 1956. an unusuall y large t1l1m a utumn fli ght along the north slope o f the ber of these delicate, black-headed gulls P oint Grey Peninsula any time between the hunted termites from the sea shore inland e nd of August, through September. These and overhead until they passed southwards termites abound in old logs that li e half out of sight. The line of diving, twisting huried in sand o r gravel in various stages gulls stretched east a nd west as far as o f decay on both sides o f Durranl inlet. one could sec, at ahout the height of tall, They a re in a surprising-I y hi gh percentage old fir trees nearby, which would be between of old er homes in the K errisdale-Kitsilano 150 and 200 feet. Five days later som e a rea and may occur almost anywhere in V an residents of South Burnaby described to CO LIv er where earth is in contact with the me this fli ght o f gull s stating that it had st LI CCO o r wooden siding of a hOLI se and rot come from the north and had passed south sets in . Garages ,,·hose fl ooring rests on \I'ards over the Fraser River and out ove r timbers directly in contact \I·ith the earth Lulu Island. a nd huilding, with damp. dead -air spaces helow them, a re particularly susceptibl e. In past years, it would seem that the supply of winged termites gave out within The autumn flig-ht of termites alon;:!' th e Point Grey peninsula can be directly fol a few hundred yards of the sea shore hut lowed hy t he movements of large /l ocks of the flig-ht of termites on August I, 1956, Bonap;ute's g ull s (LaruJ philadelphia OrcI.) must have exceeded all previous ones to w hi ch oluck the termites out of the air. have suppli ed the birds with food fo r several Professor CO\\'an (olel me that he has shot l1lil es.- G. f. S /J elleer, D e!ll. of Z oology, VIIi the birds ciuring t hese manoeuvres a lld has t'ersil y 0/ British CollIll/bi.l.