December 1947 the Tail Louse in Florida

December 1947 SCIENTIFIC NOTES 911

indefinitely, even tbougb tbe insect may recover color. The abdomen has a greasy gray appearance sufficiently to lIy and crawl. It is suggested tbat tbe with a white line along the dorsum. Sclerotic oval failure to deposit eggs may have been due to paraly- areas along either side of dorsal white line appear as sis, or partial paralysis, of the genitalia. brown spots. The distal extremity of legs are SUMMARYAND CONCLUSION.-In elq>eriments equipped with strongly developed ungues. wherein large numbers of the cigarette beetle, Lasi- The adult lice are usually found in the bush of odeT1naserricvrne (F.), were exposed to sublethal dos- the tail where they are feeding and depositing eggs. ages of pyrethrum spray, it was sbown that surviving Thus the name tail lice. The eggs (Fig. !l) are glued beetles deposited only about half as many eggs as to the hairs of the tail and are usually deposited in beetles not exposed to such spray. Consequently, great numbers. Though this species is commonly the control of tbc cigarette beetle in tobacco ware- called the tail louse the entire life is not spent on tbe

houses was consistently better than was indicated tail. l<'ollowingeelosion the nymphs usually migrate Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jee/article/40/6/911/2204038 by guest on 29 September 2021 by the mortality data from lots of test insects. For up the tail and come to rest ncar the external open- example, if a spray killed 50 per cent of the cigarette ings of the animals genital and digestive tracts. They bcetles present and also reduced by 50 per cent the may be found in great numbers near the anus and number of eggs deposited by tbe surviving beetles, the vulva, where the excretions and tenderness of tbe total effect was equivalent to a 75 per cent re- skin seem to facilitate their development. Likewise duction in population.-7-1B-47. the nymphs may migrate up the spine and may be

The Tail Louse in Florida JOHNT. CREIGHTON,and N. M. DENNIS,lUniversity of Florida, Gainesville Thc first recordcd collectiop of the tail louse in the United States was made by the senior author in early June 1944 when a complaint was received from Vero Beach. This collection \Vasmade from a Jersey dairy herd, and a range cattle herd located at Vero Bcach in Indian River County. According to Knip- ling the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quaran- tine made its first observations and collections in tbe United States during August 1945 in Orange County, Florida. Due to a lack of literature and faulty identification this species was not correctly identified until the Spring of 1947 when C. F. W. Muese- heck identified specimens as Haematopinus quad- ripertllsus Pahrenholz. The original description of this species was made by Fahrenholz. There are no other references to this species in the literature which l\Iuesebeck has indicated may be due to misidentification upon the part of field workers (Pahrenholz 1916). Since making the original collections in Indian River County the authors have made collections FIG. I.-Adult tail louse. froIU dairy herds in Broward County, from beef found in numbers on the head of the animal around cattle herds in Alachua County, from dairy herds in the eyes, feeding on or near the eyelids. Infrequently Alachua County and from the Raiford Prison Parm they will be found upon other regions of the body. Angus herd in Bradford County. This indicates a The adults are usually on the tail but may be found rather wide distribution of this species in Florida. on other parts of the body, even the eyes. The Florida catLIe owners that have experienced This species reaches its greatest abundance during attacks of this species in their herds fear the presence the late summer and early fall. Extremely cold pe- of this insect. When populations of the insect reach riods during winter months seem to reduce the popu- high intensity they have a very devitalizing effect lation on cattle, in the Alachua County area, to a upon the animals attacked. In the fall of 1945 the point of almost complete extermination. Climatic senior author made observations on a yearling and weather factors will doubtless pla,y a definite Hereford herd that had been brought in from the part in the economic importance of this species in Paines Prairie range near Gainesville. Ordinarily the United States. animals feeding on this range during the summlr Studies pertaining to the control of the species months attain an excellent condition. These animals were initiated in June 1945 and have been COll- were emaciated, which was apparently due entirely tinued. Initial observations pertaining to the louse to the presence of the tail louse. It is a species of un- seemed to indicate that infestations were rather questioned economic importance in Florida. localized on the tails of the cattle. Herd tests were The cattle tail louse (Fig. 1) is a comparatively undertaken in which the tails of all the animals large species. The average body width of the adult were sprayed thoroughly. Three herd tests were COll- is !l.S millimeters, while the average length is 4.4 dueted. The first was treated with an emulsive type mm. The head, thorax, and legs are metallic brown of spray formulation in which DDT and Titanite in color. The antennal segments have a brown base were incorporated as toxicants. The field dilution and the distal end of each segment is dirty-white in spray contained Thanite at a 2-per cent strength and DDT at O.!l per cent. Only the tails were I R. K Dixon cooperated in tbe conduct or tbe experiment. and Pro£.Millidge Murpby, Jr., prepared the photograpbs. treated and these were wet thoroughly. Population 912 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTmlOLOGY Vol. 40, No.6 counts after a lapse of 24 to 48 hours revealed good all formulations were thorough on all regions of toxic effects upon the adult lice. Counts after 2 the body including the skin area around the eyes. weeks revealed general reinfestation of the majority These three spray formulations had excellent toxic of cattle used in the tests. Another herd test was effects upon all lice on the anilllnls spmyed. Protec- made in which an emulsive Thanite formulation was tion was extended over a period of scveral weeks. employed in which the Thanite was used at 5 per Results of tests conducted indicated that the cent. The tails were treated as previously described. cattle tail louse mny be successfully controlled by the This treatment resulted in complete elimination of use of several toxicant materials including DDT, the lice from the tails but reinfestation occurred Thanite, pyrethrins, and rotenone. It is clearly evi- after a period of a week. dent that oneof the mostimportantfnctors in control The third herd test consisted of another tail ap- is effective coverage including a thorough wetting plication in which the tails were thoroughly treated of the tail and all areas of the body including the Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jee/article/40/6/911/2204038 by guest on 29 September 2021 with a DDT spray which was prepared from an head. Special attention should be given the tails, emulsive concentrate. The field dilution contained spine, external openings of the reproductive and 3 per cent DDT. Initial toxic effects were excellent digestive tracts, and thc eyes. For example a thor- reaching 100 per cent, but reinfestation of tails oc- ough application of a 2 per C('HtDDT spray applied curred after a period of 3 weeks. to all animals in a herd would doubtkss result in II complete elimination. However, the authors feel that a follow-up application within 21 to 28 days would be economical. It is believed tbat herd treatments in early spring would result in improved animal condition during late spring, summer, and fall.

LITERATURE CITED Fahrenholz. ] 9]6. Archiv fUrNaturgeschichk 81 (ll): 19.

Milky Disease Infecting Cyclocephala Larvae in the Field RALPH T. WHITE, U.S.D.A., AgT. Res. Adm., Bureau of Entomology and Plaut Quarantinel Thousands of larval slll'veys have been made ill connection with studies of the milkv diseases of the Japanese beetle, Popillia japolliea 'NeWill. Durillg the course of these surveys numerous insfa nces of illfectiOJlamong other searabaeid lnrvae with organisms at least similar to those causing type-A nnd typc-B milky diseases of the Jnpnnese heetle, described as Bacillus popilliae Dutky and B. lenti- morbus Dutky (Dutky 1940), respectively, l111ve heen recorded. A preliminary report was published in ]941 on the susceptibility of eertnin scarabnrid larvae to infection of type-:\. milky disens(' hy injec- tion as well as by inoculation of the soil (Dutky 1941). Numerous reports on the behavior of organisms causing milky diseases nmong Jnpanese beetle pop- FIG. 2.-Eggs of tail louse. ulations in the field have been published (White ]940, 1941, 1946; While & Dutky 1940). Although many species of scarabneid lnrvlle have :Following the initial herd tail tests it was revealed been shown to be susceptible to milky disease, this that the lice were distributed along the spine to the paper is limited to a presentation of verifi('d records head and under the tail near the external openings of infected larvae of the genus Cycloeephala found of the digestive and reproductive tracts. Herd tests in the field. No attempt has been made to separate were then llIadc in wllich tIle body of each animal, the larval forms of Cyeloeep/lUla borealis Arrow and with the exception of the heads, were sprayed with C. immaculata Arrow, the most prevalent species, sprays identical with those used in the preliminary since no taxonomic charncters have been found to do tests. These tests gave good initial control but rein- this satisfactorily. It is probable, however, that festation was general after a period of a month. most of the records herein nre of C. borealis. A final serif'S of tests have been conducted in The locations at which Cyeloeephala larvae defi- which sprays of wettable DDT, emulsive DDT, nitely infected with milky disease have heen found and a combination of pyrethrin-rotenone ,rere com- are listed in table 1. In most instnnces the causal pared. The wettable powder and emulsive DDT agent was an organism similar to type A, which was formulations were diluted to produce field sprays originally designated as atypical type A, but more containing 1.0 per cent DDT, and 2 per cent DDT. recently as type A (Cyeloeepllala strain). The pyrethrin-rotenone spray contained pyrethrins 1 P. J. McCabe assisted in the field surveys, and S. R. DUlky, I at 0.37 per cent strength and derris concentrate T. N. Dobbins, and J. V. Tbompson made the microscopical at 0.32 per eent, in an alcohol base. Applications of examinations to verify the type of organism present.