bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Length of life, fecundity and the oviposition cycle in Anthrenus verbasci (L.) (Col., Dermestidae) as affected by adult diet
Authors: Blake G. M. 
Published: July 2009

A study has been made of the length of life, fecundity, oviposition and the effects upon them of adult nutrition in the varied carpet beetle, Anthrenus verbasci (L.).The length of the inactive (unmated) life for males and females at 20°C. and 70 per cent. R.H. was 7·5 and 7·7 days, respectively. This period, which is spent in the moulted last larval skin, decreased with rise in temperature, from a mean of 32·4 days at 10°C. to 3·8 days at 25°C. Humidity differences had relatively little effect.The effects of various diets on the length of life, oviposition cycle and fecundity of active adults were observed. The experimental diets were water, water with pollen, water with albumen, sugar solution, sugar solution with pollen, sugar solution with albumen, and the control group in which the beetles were deprived of food and water. The sugar solution was a mixture of equal parts of glucose, sucrose and fructose in water.There were no differences in length of life between male and female beetles (males 18·2–20·9 days, females 22·1–26·1 days) given water, water with pollen, water with albumen and those deprived of food and water. But there was an increase for both sexes when the beetles were given sugar solution, and a further increase, to a mean of 58·3 days for males and 69·5 for females at 20°C. and 70–90 per cent. R.H., when albumen was added to the sugar solution. However, although sugar solution with pollen increases still further the length of life of the males, that of the females was no different from what it was on sugar solution alone.The preoviposition period ranged from 3–14 days with a mode about the fourth day.The oviposition cycle consisted of three clearly denned peaks of oviposition on about the 6th, 12th and 17th days. There was a similar pattern in all the groups except that those given sugar solution continued to lay, at a low rate, after the end of the third peak.The fecundity of beetles deprived of food and water was 50·3 eggs; for beetles given water, water with albumen and water with pollen there was a significant decrease; for beetles given sugar solution there was an increase which became significant when pollen or albumen were given in addition to the sugar. Maximum fecundity occurred on a diet of sugar solution with albumen.There was significant correlation between length of life and weight on emergence for males given water, water with pollen, or water with albumen, and for females given water with pollen or water with albumen. There was significant correlation between fecundity and emergence weight for females deprived of food and water, given water alone and water with pollen.
Pygostolus falcatus(Nees) (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), a parasite ofSitonaspecies (Coleoptera, Curculionidae).
Authors: Loan Conrad , Holdaway F. G. 
Published: July 2009

Pygostolus falcatus(Nees), an endoparasitic Braconid of the subfamily Blacinae, was reared fromSitona lineatus(L.),S. hispidulus(F.) andS. humeralisSteph. of Swedish origin. The life-history and immature stages ofP. falcatuswere studied in the laboratory at 74°F. and in field cages preparatory to its liberation in Canada as a control agent of the sweetclover weevil,S. cylindricollisFhs.The immature stages develop in the haemocoele of the weevil. After deposition, the egg increases in volume to a maximum of 335 times. At eclosion, the cells of the trophamnion dissociate and increase in volume in relation to the growth of the larva. Supernumerary larvae are eliminated soon after eclosion, and one larva only develops in a host weevil. At 74°F., the final-instar larva emerges from the host weevil 15–16 days after deposition of the egg. Development of many first-instar larvae in a wide range ofSitonaspecies was arrested by diapause. Five larval instars are described and illustrated. Oviposition is prevented in weevils in the summer of their development and eliminated in overwintered weevils by the parasite egg and first-instar larva. The weevil dies within hours of emergence of the parasite larva.Reproduction is parthenogenetic and thely tokous. The maximum number of eggs laid by a female was 46; the number of eggs laid per day per female varied from 0 to 11. Oviposition takes place both in light and in complete darkness and a preference among species ofSitonawas not evident. The maximum number of weevils parasitised by a female in a field cage was 39; the number parasitised per day varied from 0 to 8.The species overwinters as a first-instar larva in weevils which became adult in the previous summer. There were two discrete parasite generations in 1958 in Swedish weevils, both of which developed in early and mid-summer within overwintered weevils. The maximum rate of parasitism ofS. lineatusby larvae of the mid-summer parasite generation in 1958 was 73·3 per cent.The value ofP. falcatusas a control agent ofSitonapopulations is limited by low parasitism of the new weevil generation of the current year and diapause of the first-instar larva.
Field experiments on the control of wheat bulb fly, Leptohylemyia coarctata (Fall.)
Authors: Gough H. C. , Woods A. , Maskell F. E. , Towler M. J. 
Published: July 2009

Gamma BHC, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, DDT and parathion have been tested as seed dressings in field experiments for the control of wheat bulb fly, Leptohylemyia coarctata (Fall.), in eastern England. The concentrations ranged from 20 to 70 per cent, and the dressings were applied at 2–3 oz./bushel.At concentrations of 40 per cent, or over, the first three materials appreciably reduced attack and at high infestations increased yield; within the period October to January their effectiveness increased the later the wheat was sown. There was evidence that they were less effective on highly organic soils. The other materials were either less effective or had other disadvantages.Seed dressings of γ BHC usually reduced the number of larvae entering the plant but had little effect on larvae which succeeded in entering. Aldrin and dieldrin and probably most other materials usually had less effect on the entry of larvae but were very effective in killing larvae after entry so that the plant could subsequently recover.Combine-drilling of aldrin or dieldrin affected the larvae in the same way as seed dressings; in one season on a peaty soil seed dressings were more effective than combine-drilling, but in another season on a mineral soil seed dressings were slightly less effective than combine-drilling. However, it was clear that with combine-drilling very much higher quantities of insecticide per acre were needed to achieve a comparable result. Both aldrin and dieldrin gave similar results.
Further Field experiments on the control of wheat bulb fly, Leptohylemyia coarctata (Fall.)
Authors: Maskell F. E. , Gair R. 
Published: July 2009

SummaryField trials were conducted in certain eastern counties of England in the years 1957–1959 to assess chemical control methods applied at sowing time against wheat bulb fly, Leptohylemyia coarctata (Fall.). Combine-drilled treatments, using fillers of aluminium silicate, brick dust, granular clay, superphosphate or compound fertiliser, included aldrin at rates from 0·3 to 5·5 lb., dieldrin at 2 and 4 lb., and heptachlor at 2 lb. active ingredient per acre, respectively. Seed-dressing treatments applied with organo-mercury fungicide included 40 and 60 per cent. dieldrin and heptachlor, 40 per cent. aldrin, 60 per cent. Thiodan, 40 per cent. γ BHC with and without organo-mercury, all applied at 2 oz. per bushel of seed; 60 per cent. dieldrin, heptachlor and Thiodan were also tested at double the intended rate of 5 oz. per bushel.No form of chemical control was completely effective in suppressing damage but all gave some, and usually a great, improvement, particularly on late-sown or backward crops. Most of the insecticides tested gave closely comparable results. Seed dressings containing at least 40 per cent. heptachlor, dieldrin, aldrin or γ BHC were slightly more effective than combine-drilled insecticidal treatments, with the added advantage of applying only relatively small amounts of persistent insecticides to the soil.Slight symptoms of phytotoxicity were observed on two sites in 1958 following the use of γ BHC and dieldrin seed dressings applied at the normal rate of 2 oz. per bushel and severe symptoms on two trials in 1959 to seed over-dressed with insecticide and organo-mercury; elsewhere the seed dressings employed appeared to have no adverse effect upon plant establishment.Dieldrin, aidrin, heptachlor and Thiodan seed dressings behaved similarly in killing a high proportion of larvae within attacked shoots; γ BHC reduced the number of larvae entering the plant, but those which did succeed in entering developed in an apparently normal manner.On fields where drilling was delayed and the attack severe, the optimum rate of combine-drilled aldrin was probably between 1 and 2 lb. active ingredient per acre. No significant increase in yield was obtained at rates much higher than 2 lb. per acre. While fine-dust formulations gave effective results, the use of a granular fertiliser base improved the flow through the combine-drill and gave increased tillering with slightly higher yields. Heptachlor combine-drilled at 2 lb. active ingredient per acre was slightly superior to aldrin at the same rate.No adverse effects were recorded when insecticidal seed dressings and combine-drilled aldrin were used together, and at high levels of infestation the double treatment gave increased yields, though insufficient to justify its use on fields having only moderate egg populations.
The effect of radioactive phosphorus on the growth and development of Culex pipiens molestus Forsk. (Diptera, Culicidae)
Authors: Abdel-Malek Albert A. 
Published: July 2009

SummaryIn a study of the effect of different concentrations of radioactive phosphorus (32P) in the larval medium on the growth and development of Culex pipiens molestus Forsk., 32P was found to have little noticeable effect on the growth of the larvae up to a concentration of 3·0 microcuries (μc.) of 32P per ml., but, above this concentration, larval growth was greatly retarded.The period of larval development was increased at concentrations greater than 1·0 μc. of 32P per ml., and pupation occurred two weeks later than in the controls. In concentrations higher than 5·0 μc./ml., pupation was completely inhibited, larvae became sluggish, stopped feeding and finally died.The effect of 32P in the larval medium on the emergence and radioactivity of the resulting adults was also studied. On the basis of this study, it is recommended that, for efficient utilisation of radio-phosphorus in large-scale field experiments, a concentration of 32P of 1·0 μc./ml. be employed so that emerging adult mosquitos may be sufficiently radioactive to be readily detectable.
Feeding behaviour of adults of Pieris brassicae (L.) in a laboratory culture
Authors: David W. A. L. , Gardiner B. O. C. 
Published: July 2009

SummaryOnly a few individuals in the first generation of adults of Pieris brassicae (L.) reared in captivity will feed on artificially prepared flowers. By breeding from the eggs laid by these individuals and from a few others which have been helped to feed it is possible to maintain the stock. In each successive generation a few more individuals feed, and after about four generations most of the insects feed voluntarily. Finally, after many generations, all the insects use the flowers, and the experiments described are concerned with this adapted stock.Many factors influence the attraction of the insects to the artificial flowers and the volume of food taken. Colour, blue or yellow, is responsible for attracting the adults to the flowers, and it is only when they are very close to the flowers and under the stimulus of colour that they show any detectable reaction to the odour of the honey solution in the flowers. Larger blue flowers are more attractive than smaller blue flowers.The insects find the artificial flowers more easily, at first, if they are high in the cage. More honey solution is taken at 30 than at 20°C. and more in a large cage than in a small cage. When given a choice, the insects take more 10 per cent, (v/v) than 1 per cent, (v/v) honey solution and more 20 per cent, (v/v) solution than 10 per cent, (v/v) solution. When offered two of these solutions in separate cages the insects at first take less of the 1 per cent, solution than of the 10 per cent, solution. Later, presumably in an effort to obtain sufficient nutriment, they take more of the weaker solution than of the stronger solution. The insects live for a much shorter time on the 1 per cent, solution than on the 10 per cent, solution. Fresh honey solution is preferred to a solution 4–5 days old, and older honey solution is quite unsuitable as food. When the survival of adults fed on honey and sucrose solution is compared it is found that females, especially, survive longer when feeding on honey.About 50 per cent, of the adults fed on 10 per cent, honey solution in the normal stock cage under glasshouse conditions live for 18 days. Very few survive for longer than 36 days. Starved insects all die by the llth day under similar conditions. When starved at 12·5°C. and 60 per cent, relative humidity, about half the males live for 17 to 19 days, but all are dead by about the 23rd day, whereas half the females live for about 29 days and some survive up to 40 days.
A new Australasian species of Elachertus Spinola (Hym., Chalcidoidea, Eulophidae) and notes on two European species
Authors: Kereich G. J. 
Published: July 2009

SummaryA description is given of a new species of Elachertus, E. agonoxenae (Chalci-Doidea, Eulophidae), on the basis of adults reared from larvae of Agonoxena pyrogramma Meyr. in New Guinea and Agonoxena sp. in Queensland. This species has been imported into Fiji for trial in controlling A. argaula Meyr., a pest of coconut palms. The new species is compared with E. argissa (Wlk.) and E. artaeus (Wlk.), two British species for which lectotypes are here selected.
Observations on Carcelia evolans (Wied.) (Diptera, Tachinidae), a parasite of Diparopsis watersi (Roths.) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), in Northern Nigeria
Authors: Reed W. , Choyce M. A. 
Published: July 2009

SummaryCarcelia evolans (Wied.) is a common parasite of Diparopsis watersi (Roths.) in Northern Nigeria. The egg and early larval stages have not been observed, but the latter are thought to be passed in the larva of the host. The fully grown parasite larva appears to leave its host after the latter has entered the soil and formed its pupal cell, and either immediately before, or after, the host pupates. The parasite puparium is thus formed inside the pupal cell of D. watersi, but outside the host. Before forming its puparium, the parasite larva excavates a pit in the wall of the cell, thus facilitating the subsequent exit of the adult fly, which can push through the weakened cell at this point.The life-cycle of C. evolans is closely adapted to that of its host, with short-term generations during the cotton season alternating with a long-term, or diapause, generation during the dry season. It is believed that C. evolans goes into diapause as a minute first-stage larva, but the factors that induce diapause are unknown.The short-term pupal period of C. evolans (12–14 days) was less variable than that of D. watersi (11–31 days) at 27±5°C. In dry conditions, inside and outside the laboratory, the mean duration of diapause for C. euolans (27·3–38·8 weeks) was longer than that of D. watersi (22·9–36·2 weeks). In pupation troughs, approximating to field conditions, the mean duration of diapause in D. watersi (43·2 weeks) was greater than that of its parasite (36·1 weeks). The spreadover of emergence of the parasite from pupation troughs was more regular than that of moths, with no peak in October.Earlier estimates of the incidence of parasitism at Samaru are probably inaccurate because adult flies have now been shown to be capable of escaping through the apertures of the perforated zinc of the cages then in use. Estimates of the rate of parasitism, made in southern Katsina, showed that 23·1 per cent, of pupal cells obtained at Daudawa between 13th November and 24th December 1959 from cotton that had earlier been treated with insecticidal sprays were parasitised, compared with 30·7 per cent. of those obtained in the same period from unsprayed cotton four miles away. The rate of parasitism was particularly low (16 per cent.) amongst the larvae collected at Daudawa in November, due possibly to the insecticide applications that had been made earlier in the season.These results imply that the parasite is easier to kill than its host, and an increasing use of insecticides on cotton in Northern Nigeria may therefore adversely affect the degree of control achieved by the parasite.
Teaps in field studies of Glossina pallidipes Austen
Authors: Glasgow J. P. , Duffy B. J. 
Published: July 2009

SummaryIn order to evaluate Morris traps as a method of investigating populations of Glossina pallidipes Aust., and to compare them with fly-rounds, a series of catches was made by both methods in and adjacent to an area of evergreen thicket covering about three sq. miles in the Lambwe Valley, South Nyanza District, Kenya. During the period of the investigations (February 1955-February 1958), the mean monthly apparent density (catches of non-teneral males per 10,000 yd. traversed) determined from a fly-round 5,200 yd. long traversing the thicket varied from 70 to 1,300, and the mean monthly trap catch, determined from 26 traps along a similar traverse but over a shorter period, varied from 190 to 670. Catches by the two methods showed similar fluctuations but were not significantly correlated, and it is not certain that real changes in population occurred. The distribution of G. pallidipes between the three main vegetation communities sampled appeared different when studied by traps, or by other methods (fly-rounds, and searching for resting flies). The two latter methods were in agreement, but traps gave different results, perhaps because one of the vegetation communities may have had a high proportion of productive trapping sites.Dispersal of G. pallidipes into the surrounding, sparsely wooded grassland was studied by traps arranged in lines extending east and west of the thicket and at right angles to its edge. Traps appeared not to attract flies over a distance as great as 100 yd., but to catch only those that chanced to be in their immediate vicinity. Total catches in three traps over 10 months at distances of 5–100–300–500 and 900 yd. west of the thicket edge were 15,417–965–153–89 and 56, respectively; smaller numbers were taken up to 2,500 yd., the greatest distance investigated. Dispersal was greatest in the wet, cool half of the year.In catches of G. pallidipes made in six consecutive two-hour periods daily for one year in two batteries, each of seven traps, and on two short fly-rounds, one of each along the east and the other along the west edge of the thicket, the traps yielded 78 per cent, females and the fly-rounds only 17 per cent. There was a marked tendency for females to be caught earlier in the day than males by either method, and for the pattern of catches to be earlier on fly-rounds than in traps. No difference in age, estimated by wing fray, was found between flies caught, by either method, at different times of day.The total number of G. pallidipes caught by two traps operating 11 hours per day for 10 days at the thicket edge was over four times that caught there concurrently by a stationary party of three men.It is concluded that traps are valuable because they catch a high proportion of females, thus affording information not given by fly-rounds, and operate continuously, at a higher over-all catching rate than that of men, thus facilitating the study of sparse populations. Nevertheless, site effects and day-to-day variability are both large with traps, so that reproducible results are difficult to obtain.
Studies on the larval biology of Leptoconops becquaerti (Kieff.) (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)
Authors: Linley J. R. 
Published: July 2009

Studies were carried out in Jamaica on the larval biology of Leptoconops becquaerti (Kieff.) in 1962–63.Larvae were reared on natural breeding sites in chambers constructed from large tins, by methods that are described in detail. The features of the breeding sites are illustrated and briefly discussed.The developmental period from egg hatching to adult emergence probably occupies four to eight weeks, depending to a certain extent upon temperature and hence on time of year. It is unlikely that the adult stage is ever reached in much less than three weeks under natural conditions. Under experimental conditions, overall survival to the adult stage was frequently greater than 20 per cent., and occasionally over 50 per cent. It is considered that survival in natural populations is probably also quite high.Larval mortality in the experimental chambers apparently occurred maintly in the first instar, and this probably happens in nature. The results showed a relationship between percentage survival and egg number such that proportionately fewer adults were obtained from chambers with greater numbers of eggs. This was interpreted as being due to progressively more severe starvation of very young larvae in the more crowded chambers.There was no marked tendency for adults of the more same sex to emerge first in the chambers. The sex ratio among the total of 1,039 adults obtained was 1:1.In an experiment to investigate the diel rhythm of adult emergence, 71 per cent. of adults of L. becquaerti emerged in the four-hour period of 0300–0700 hr., and a further 27 per cent. appered between 0700–1100 hr. This is earlier than found in Culicoides furcns (Poey) in a previous experiment.
Observations on the ecology of Oryctes (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae) in Madagascar
Authors: Bedford G. O. 
Published: July 2009

In a study of the incidence of damage to coconut palms in Madagascar and the Comores Archipelage caused by species of Oryctes (Scarabaeidae) it was found that attack is heaviest in localities where there are abundant breeding sites for the beetle, and that tall palms are more often attacked than short ones. The most important larval breeding sites are dead standing coconut palms and decaving coconut trunks and stumps. Larvae also breed in decaying satra trunks (Medemia sp.), wood of Albizia in coffee plantations, decaying Raphia trunks, and occasionally in rubbish heaps and manure, but are only rarely encountered in decaying wood in forests. Coconut palms are important feeding sites for O. gigas, O. blucheaui and O. simiar. O. pyrrhus attacks coconut seedlings and young oil palms. Forest palms are occasionally attacked. O. ranavaloattacks bamboo on the east coast. Banana plants are occasionally attacked by O. simiar.Scoliid parasites of the larvae of Oryctes are widely distributed but not commonly found. Gregarines in larvae are also widespread but of rare occurrence. Oxyurid nematodes were often found in the fermantation chamber at the gut of Oryctes and Cetonid larvae. The fungus Cordyceps sp. was found at only one locality where it was attacking 56 per cent. of the larvae of Oryctes. Examples of infection by the fungus Metarrhizium were rarely encountered. Namatodes often occurred in the aedeagus of adult males of O. gigas and in the bursa copulatrix and colleterial glands of adult females, as well as under the elytra. They were less common in the other species of Oryctes examined. Mermithid nematodes were found in adults of Oryctes on rare occasions. No insect parasites of the adult stage of Oryctes were found. Elaterid larvae, possibly predacious on those of Oryctes were occasionally found but did not appear to be of much importance.It is concluded that the major factor limiting Oryctes populations in Madagascar and the Comores is the number of suitable breeding sites.