497 Rearing the wheat stem sawfly on an artificial diet Tulio B. Macedo,1 Paula A. Macedo, Robert K.D. Peterson, David K. Weaver, Wendell L. Morrill Department of Entomology, 333 Leon Johnson Hall, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, United States of America Macedo500 et al. The wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus occur following incubation at room tempera- Norton (Hymenoptera: Cephidae), is an insect ture. Adults readily mate in the laboratory, and pest in dryland wheat cropping systems in the artificial oviposition sites can be provided to southern Canadian Prairies and the northern obtain eggs. Great Plains of the United States (Morrill The first reported attempt to rear C. cinctus 1997). Yield losses caused by C. cinctus are larvae on artificial diet used natural foods such due to reduced head weight (Holmes 1977; as wheat juice and cellulose powder (Kasting Morrill et al. 1992) and lodging, which de- and McGinnis 1958). Although C. cinctus were creases harvest efficiency. Estimates of yield reared on a diet mixture (Kasting and McGinnis losses in Montana alone are about US$25 mil- 1958), larval survival was limited to 14 days, lion per year. and it was necessary to provide fresh diet every The biology of C. cinctus is well known. It 24–48 h (McGinnis and Kasting 1962). Iden- has a wide host range including nearly all tified problems included mold contamination large-stemmed grasses except oats, Avena and the configuration of the diet (McGinnis and sativa L. (Farstad 1940). Adults emerge from Kasting 1962). fallow fields and migrate into crop fields as The legless C. cinctus larvae are adapted to wheat stems elongate, from mid-May to late feeding within an enclosed tube, or plant stem. July (Morrill and Kushnak 1999). Eggs are laid To simulate these conditions, McGinnis and in stems, and larvae feed on the parenchyma Kasting (1962) improved larval survival by (Ainslie 1920) of growing wheat plants. Plants placing evenly spaced plastic plates with are susceptible from stem elongation through grooves in the media. Since then, there have flowering. Mature larvae move to the base of been no reports of improved methods for rear- the plant and cut notches around the inner per- ing C. cinctus larvae. Development of a satis- imeter of the stem near ground level, which factory artificial medium, based on a better usually causes lodging and loss of wheat heads understanding of nutritional requirements and at harvest (Ainslie 1920). The larvae overwinter presentation of diet, would open new opportuni- in diapause within the lower section of the cut ties for our current research on larval antibiosis stem (Ainslie 1920). Diapause is completed af- and fungal pathogens. ter about 3 months at low temperature (Salt 1947), and pupation occurs in the spring. This paper presents a new diet medium for New basic research studies would be possible the wheat stem sawfly that was successfully if C. cinctus larvae could be reared on artificial used to rear neonate larvae to maturation. media. Currently, larvae can be reared only in In the first experiment, a commercial diet for plant stems, which must be reared in a glass- fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. house or be collected from the field. Both topi- Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), consisting of cal and consumption dose-response studies are sucrose, cholesterol, methylparaben, sorbic difficult to quantify with insects that are feed- acid, vitamin mix (Vanderzant), ascorbic acid, ing within plant stems. Off-season adults can be stabilized wheat germ, casein, sterile corn cob obtained by refrigerating field-collected dia- grits, Wesson salt mix, and raw linseed oil (diet pausing larvae. Pupation and adult eclosion will F9179B, BioServ, Frenchtown, New Jersey), was tested. The dry mixture was combined with 1 L of boiling agar (A-7002, SIGMA Chemical Received 9 November 2004. Accepted 5 May Co., St. Louis, Missouri) and blended for 2005. 2 min. The final mixture was dispensed imme- 1Corresponding author diately into 60 mm × 15 mm sterilized dispos- (e-mail: [email protected]). able plastic petri dishes (Fisher brand, Fisher Can. Entomol. 137: 497–500 (2005) © 2005 Entomological Society of Canada 498 Can. Entomol. Vol. 137, 2005 Scientific, Hampton, New Hampshire). Petri the groove or hole to the drier top of the diet dishes containing diet medium were cooled ei- medium. This up-and-down (geotropic) move- ther under a purified vertical clean bench ment throughout the feeding source is often ob- (Labconco Corp., Kansas City, Missouri) with served in natural conditions (Holmes 1954), but UV light or on the laboratory bench for 30 min. in this study it may have had an inhibitory ef- Diets were sealed under petri-dish lids and then fect on feeding, since the surface of the me- stored at 4 °C in a chromatography refrigerator dium is less moist and may have been an (Isotemp™, Fisher Scientific) until larvae were unacceptable food source. Inhibition of feeding available. could be due not only to water loss from the Before placing larvae in the media, either surface of the medium but also to the need for grooves (35 mm × 4.34 mm × 4.34 mm) or enclosure provided by the grooves and holes. holes (4.34 mm × 4.34 mm) were made in the Even though we did not observe any significant diet medium using a stainless-steel micro- difference in larval survival or tunneling be- spatula (Daigger Lab Supplies, Vernon Hills, Il- tween grooves and holes, the larvae tended to linois) according to the method used by start feeding and tunneling sooner when placed McGinnis and Kasting (1962). Neonate larvae inside holes. Transfer of larvae from one petri were collected from field-infested stems and dish to another, which took place approxi- placed singly within individual grooves or holes mately every 13 days, also caused mortality using a camel’s-hair brush. Petri dishes were through injury or contamination by the held in an environmental chamber (Conviron, camel’s-hair brush. We did not observe signifi- Winnipeg, Manitoba) at 21 °C and 40%–50% cant differences in survival between UV-treated RH under complete darkness. This temperature and untreated media. Although larval develop- and RH duplicated the average of hourly tem- ment on the medium seemed slower than devel- peratures and RH that we measured in a wheat opment of field-collected larvae (personal canopy in a local field at Churchill, Montana, observation), a total of five larvae (4.4%) sur- from 17 June to 20 August, using a HOBO® vived for more than 60 days (29 June – 2 Sep- RH/temperature data logger (H8, Onset Com- tember). Despite their healthy appearance, puter Co., Pocasset, Massachusetts). larvae surviving for more than 60 days stopped Survival and larval development were deter- tunneling. mined twice per week by counting the number In the second experiment, two diets were of live larvae and noting the presence of tun- tested: (1) a modified version of the commer- nels, which indicate feeding. Larvae were trans- cial artificial diet for S. frugiperda described ferred to new media throughout the study as previously, containing 1.3% chlortetracycline needed because of desiccation or contamination HCl (Aureomycin®, Fort Dodge Animal Health, with microorganisms. Overland Park, Kansas) and 1.04% bicyclo- A total of 113 newly hatched larvae were hexylammonium fumagilin (Fumagilin-B, used in this experiment. Larval mortality was Medivet Pharmaceuticals Ltd., High River, Al- 75.2% after 10 days. There was no significant berta); and (2) a diet developed for rearing of difference in mortality rates of larvae between the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis grooves and holes. Most mortality (~20%) was (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), by Lewis associated with growth of mold on the diet me- and Lynch (1969), composed of agar (13.3%), dium. It seems that despite transfer of larvae to wheat germ (24.7%), dextrose (18.9%), choles- new media as needed because of mold develop- terol (1.5%), vitamin-free casein (20.9%), salt ment, we were not able to avoid the negative ef- No. 2 (6.8%), methylparaben (0.9%), L-ascorbic fect of mold on larval survivorship. The growth acid (5.7%), vitamin supplement (4.4%), sorbic of microorganisms (unknown species) or the acid (0.4%), chlortetracycline HCl (1.3%), and presence of any other lethal contaminant on the bicyclohexylammonium fumagilin (1.04%). medium may have been related to infection by For the second diet, agar was mixed in1Lof contaminated tools, such as the camel’s-hair cold water and boiled for 9 min. Wheat germ brush and the microspatula used to make the was then added and cooked for about 15 min. grooves and holes. In addition, because we used Once the wheat–agar mixture was cooked, it field-collected larvae, it is possible that fungi was blended with the dry ingredients for 3 min. were transported from the field on larvae. The final mixture was then poured into a kettle Larval desiccation was also a major mortality and mixed at high speed for an additional min- factor. On many occasions, larvae moved out of ute. Immediately after mixing, the final diet © 2005 Entomological Society of Canada Macedo et al. 499 Table 1. Mortality (%, mean ± SEM) of Cephus cinctus larvae after 10 days. Experiment Diet Parameter Mortality after 10 days 1 1 Groove 34.6±3.1a Hole 40.6±4.9a 2 2 Petri dish 3.8±1.3aB Drinking straw 8.4±3.3aB 3 Petri dish 30.6±2.3aC Drinking straw 36.1±3.2aC Note: Diet 1, Spodoptera frugiperda commercial diet; diet 2, modified S. frugiperda diet; diet 3, Ostrinia nubilalis diet. Percentages followed by the same letter are not significantly different (α = 0.05).