Mexico Missouri message., 1912-08-08

(By FRED Z. BROOKS. West Virginia
Experiment Station.)
The grapecane girdler is an insect
not often mentioned in chronological
literature, probably for the reason that
in the past it seems to have confined
It's attacks chiefly to the plant known
as Virginia creCper or flve-leafed ivy,
ampelopsis quinquefolia, and has
seemed, therefore, of but little eco
ncmic importance. In this state it APP
pears now to have developed prefer
ence for the grape. In several locali-
lies l have seen grapevines presenting
n ragged appearance on account of the
dead tips resulting from the insects
attacks. but have never been able to
find either the beetle or evidences of
Its work on ampelopsis.
The species cannot now be regarded
as pest of very serious consequence,
except in rare instances, but it has
several times attracted attention as an
enemy of the grape in this state dur
ing recent years, and heretofore but
little has been known In regard to its
habits.
The distribution of the species
seems to be quite general throughout
the eastern and mid-western sections
of the United States In 1862 Mr.. c.
V. Riley, in his first report on the noX-
ious insects of Missouri, mentioned 1t
as forming gals on the common creep
er. At about the same time Mr. Benz
n 90 -
in his collection in Illinois, marked
"Madarus ampelopsis." 1t was not I'M
til the year 1876 that a description
of the beetle was published. In that
year DR.. John l.. LeConte described it
in his work on the Rhynchophora of
America, and gave to it the name
which it still bears. lie Conte gives
its geographical distribution as south
ern and western states Since the
description was published the species
has received but infrequent and brief
notice, but has been recorded as oc-
curing in several states from Mis-
souri, to Pennsylvania.
The wound which the beetle makes
in ovipositing causes the tip and
terminal leaves on the young cane to
drop over and die, and shortly after
ward to fall from the vine. The egg
is not carried to the gSound with the
prunings when they fall, but it re-
mains in the vine, and the larva which
develops therefrom feeds in the heart
of the stump from which the leaves
and tip were removed.
1t is interesting to compare the
methods of this insect with those of
other species that girdle twigs or
small branches In order to kill or part
ly kill the wood in which their eggs
are laid and their larvae are to feed.
The "hickory twig-girdler," Onci-
deres cingulata, a "1ong-horned" bee
tie, lays its eggs in the branches Of
hickory and other trees and then cir
dies the branch below, by cutting a
deep groove with it's strong jaws SO
that the branch above dies and Is fire.
quently broken off by the wind. The
elm twig-girdler," Oberea ulmicola,
beetle of the same family, attacks
elm in a similar manner. The female
cuts a deep groove around a twig so
that it is easily broken of by the
wind. Below the groove she cuts slit
in the bark and deposits an egg and
then moves further down the twig and
girdles 1t a second time, now merely
cutting through the bark so as to dead
en- the part above. Another species OF
the same genus, known as the black
berry cane-girdler," 0berea binlacu-