Entomology Commons^™

New Genus Of Rhyparini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae) In Amber From The Dominican Republic, Paul E. Skelley

Insecta Mundi

Priscyparus quisqueyensis Skelley, new genus and new species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae: Rhyparini), is described in amber from the Dominican Republic. An updated key to New World genera of Rhyparini is presented.

Priscyparus quisqueyensis Skelley, género nuevo y especie nueva (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae: Rhyparini), se describe de ámbar de la República Dominicana. La clave a los Rhyparini del Nuevo Mundo es enmendada para incluir el nuevo género.

There are only three fossil taxa of Rhyparini (Coleoptera: Scrabaeidae: Aphodiinae) preserved in copal or amber from the New World. There have been brief listings of a Termitodius Wasmann in Colombian copal (Penney and …

Response Of Roseau Cane (Phragmites Australis) To Two Biotic Stresses: Hyalopterus Pruni And Bipolaris Yamadae, Heather E. Cizek

LSU Master's Theses

Roseau cane (Phragmites australis) is considered an invasive plant because of its ability to replace native plant species. However, in Louisiana it plays an important role protecting coastal infrastructure and being part of the marsh ecosystem in the lower Mississippi River Delta. In recent years, Roseau cane has been affected by a die-off, a problem that has also been reported in some European countries. Possible biotic and abiotic factors that have been associated with the die-off include scale insects, climate change, pollution, salinity levels, and pathogens.

In this research, the individual and combined effect of a foliar disease …

Improving The Deployment Of Insecticidal Seed Treatments In Louisiana Rice In Accordance With Integrated Pest Management, Megan Marie Mulcahy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus Kuschel (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is the most destructive insect pest of rice in the United States. Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus larvae feed on rice roots, reducing yields by up to 25 %. Lepidopteran stem borers, in the family Crambidae, are also economically important pests of rice in Louisiana.

Currently, insecticidal seed treatments are used throughout the U.S. Mid-south rice industry to prophylactically control L. oryzophilus. Chlorantraniliprole seed treatments are also effective against stem borers. Thus, insecticidal seed treatments are used on >80 % of Louisiana rice acreage. Although seed treatments reduce damage inflicted by these pests, they are applied preventatively …

Biocontrol Of The Emerald Ash Borer: An Adapted Nicholson-Bailey Model, Michael Kerckhove, Shuheng Chen

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Diversity And Drivers Of Oribatid Mites (Acari: Oribatida) In Boreal Peatlands, Carlos Rafael De Araujo Barreto

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Boreal peatlands are important ecosystems for carbon cycling, storing 1/3 of the world’s terrestrial carbon in only ~3% of the globe, making them a key component of potential mitigation strategies in response to global climate warming. Experiments have shown that warming can affect plant and microbial communities in ways that potentially shift peatlands from carbon sinks to sources. Soil food webs, including the microarthropod community, are key in carbon cycling but are relatively understudied both in peatlands and under experimental warming. My research capitalized on a large-scale experimental field manipulation of warming in two contrasting peatland sites in Northern Ontario, …

Regional Expansion And Evaluation Of Potential Chemical Control For Invasive Apple Snails (Pomacea Maculata) In Southwest Louisiana, Julian M. Lucero

LSU Master's Theses

The integration of monitoring and chemical control is an efficient strategy for managing invasive apple snails, Pomacea maculata, in the rice (Oryza sativa L.) and crawfish systems of southwest Louisiana. However, their current distribution, expansion rates, and susceptibility to chemical control methods in this area are not well known. This study evaluated the expansion of P. maculata in southwest Louisiana and assessed potential chemical control for P. maculata among toxicity assays using various application rates. The effects of potential chemical control were also assessed on a non-target species, the red swamp crawfish (Procambarus clarkii). P. maculata …

Two New Species Of Byrrhinus Motschulsky, 1858 (Coleoptera, Limnichidae, Limnichinae) From Negros, Philippines, Emmanuel D. Delocado, Hendrik Freitag

Biology Faculty Publications

Two new species of Limnichidae beetles, Byrrhinus negrosensis sp. nov. and Byrrhinus villarini sp. nov., are described from the Island of Negros in the Philippines. The adult specimens of the new species can be differentiated by patterns of body punctation, colour and orientation of elytral pubescence, posterolateral angle of pronotum, tarsomere length ratio and aedeagal form. Two clades, representing the two new species, were retrieved in the Maximum Likelihood gene tree using the 3’-end of the COI gene. Maximum genetic divergence within B. negrosensis sp. nov. and B. villarini sp. nov. were recorded to be 2.3% and 1.3%, respectively, while …

Getting Out Of A Sticky Situation: Differential Escape Of Spotted Lanternfly From Two Commonly-Used Trapping Techniques, Jennifer L. Chandler

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

Professor Jen Chandler, Biology - Getting out of a Sticky Situation: Differential Escape of Spotted Lanternfly from Two Commonly-Used Trapping Techniques

Lily Leaf Beetle, Ann Mull, Lori R. Spears

All Current Publications

The lily leaf beetle (LLB) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is an important pest from Eurasia that threatens native and cultivated true lilies (Lilium spp.) and fritillaries (Fritillaria spp.). It is also known as the red lily leaf beetle or scarlet lily beetle. LLB was first reported in North America in Montréal, Canada, in 1945 and in the U.S. in 1992 in Massachusetts, likely arriving via European shipments of lily bulbs. LLB has been detected in nine of the 10 Canadian provinces and 14 U.S. states, including the New England states, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Washington (EDDMapS, 2021). Based on LLB’s native distribution …

High Rates Of Polygyny In Tropical Mexico Within The Native Range Of Vespula Squamosa., Alex K. Snyder, Kevin J. Loope

Honors College Theses

Polygyny, or the formation of colonies with multiple cooperating queens, has been observed in a variety of social Hymenoptera and likely exists as a convergent evolutionary strategy. Polygyne cooperation has been observed in several Vespula sp. and is correlated with a perennial social strategy. This perennial-polygyne behavior has been observed most commonly within the tropical and subtropical regions of the invasive Vespula pensylvanica and V. germanica, and rarely within their native temperate ranges. This phenomenon has been relatively undocumented within the tropical portions the V. squamosa native range, despite it being observed in their temperate ranges several times. We observed …

The Puzzling Presence Of Lestes Australis (Odonata: Lestidae) In Wisconsin - Does This Species Migrate?, Robert B. Dubois, Kenneth J. Tennessen

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Lestes disjunctus australis Walker, 1952 was named as a subspecies of Lestes disjunctus Selys, 1862. In recent decades it has been considered deserving of full species status by most specialists. The core of its eastern North American range is south of Wisconsin, but during April through June of some years, mature individuals, and occasionally reproductive behavior, are observed at shallow ponds and wetlands mostly in the southern half of the state. Since first recorded in Wisconsin in 2002, it has been detected in 13 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties. However, there has been no unequivocal documentation of successful reproduction in the …

New Record Of Idana Marginata (Say) (Diptera: Tephritoidea: Ulidiidae) From Wisconsin, Daniel K. Young

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Idana marginata (Say) was previously known from northeastern North America: Canada and the United States, west to northeastern Illinois and south to North Carolina. Herein, collection events are reported from Richland County in southwestern Wisconsin. This new state record significantly increases the known geographical distribution of the species to the west. The specimens were recovered from an unbaited Lindgren funnel trap during two intervals between 26 June and 28 July 2019.

Bark- And Wood-Infesting Insects (Coleoptera And Hymenoptera) And Associated Parasitoids Reared From Yellow Birch (Betula Alleghaniensis) In Ingham County, Michigan, Robert A. Haack

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Four species of bark- and wood-infesting borers (two Coleoptera and two Hymenoptera) and six parasitoid species (Hymenoptera) were reared from yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britton) one year after the trees were cut and left standing in a woodlot in Ingham County, Michigan in 1986–87. The borers were species of Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) and Xiphydriidae (Hymenoptera), and hymenopteran parasitoid species of Aulacidae, Braconidae, Chalcididae, and Pteromalidae. Xiphydriophagus meyerinckii (Ratzeburg) (Pteromalidae) is a new Michigan state record. For the borers, yellow birch is a new host record for the cerambycid Sternidius alpha (Say) and the xiphydriid Xiphydria tibialis Say. Seasonal emergence data …

Anomalously Pale-Haired Specimens In Three Genera Of Cleptoparasitic Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Nomadinae), Thomas M. Onuferko

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Cases of partially albinic specimens of cleptoparasitic bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Nomadinae) in which the pubescence lacks the usual pigmentation are presented and discussed. Anomalously pale-haired individuals within the following three genera are known: Brachymelecta Linsley, Epeolus Latreille, and Triepeolus Robertson. Since two of the aberrant specimens were mistaken for and erroneously described as new taxa, the present paper draws attention to this phenomenon within bees and its potential to cause taxonomic confusion.

Plant Extract Efficacy On Mosquito Mortality: Preliminary Studies On The Effect Of Ailanthus Altissima Extract On Adult Aedes Aegypti And Culex Quinquefasciatus, John R. Wallace, Calen D. Wylie, Ryan L. Wagner

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Abstract

Due to the negative environmental impact and resistance to synthetic insecticides, the development of biological control has increased significantly over the past half century with the potential of plant extracts only recently attracting attention. The purpose of this preliminary study was to examine the potential of Ailanthus altissima extract as a botanical insecticide on adult mosquitoes. Two species of mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus) and a non-target lepidopteran species, Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) were treated with A. altissima extract from new, mature, and senesced leaflets using serial dilutions (0, 25, 50, 75, 100%) …

Agricultural Natural Enemies Benefit Predominantly From Broader Scales Of Environmental Heterogeneity: A Quantitative Review, Aaron Iverson, Robyn Burnham, John Vandermeer

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Naturally occurring predator and parasitoid communities are well known to respond to multiple scales of environmental heterogeneity within and around agroecoystems, yet our understanding of which scales are most influential on different functional guilds of enemies is limited. Using vote-counting methodology, we synthesized the results from 40 empirical studies that observed how natural enemy richness, diversity, or parasitism rate is affected by environmental heterogeneity at a local scale (e.g. a focal field), an intermediate scale (e.g. habitat in immediate proximity of a focal field), and landscape scale (e.g. habitat within >200 m radius around focal field). Heterogeneity at all scales …

Spiraling Flight Behavior May Integrate The Biological Compass Systems Of Migratory North American Monarch Butterflies, (Danaus Plexippus, L.), Matthew M. Douglas

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Here I report a unique spiraling flight and orientation behavior (comprising multiple clockwise and counterclockwise circles coupled by extended figure-8 patterns) observed in free-flying “late” migratory monarchs released under sunny ambient field conditions from a location with an unobstructed view of the sky. Following this spiraling flight, migrants continue to fly at very high altitudes until a final orientation and migratory flight direction is established with vanishing bearings statistically concentrated to the SW/W. These results provide preliminary evidence for the possible calibration and use of an inclination magnetic compass that can be used under all local free-flying field conditions. During …

Susceptibility, Preference, And Suitability Of Carpinus And Ostrya Taxa For Gypsy Moth Larvae (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae), Fredric Miller, Susan Wiegrefe

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Twenty Carpinus taxa and three Ostrya taxa, growing in the tree breeding production area at The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL, were evaluated in laboratory bioassays for feeding susceptibility, preference, and suitability for gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar, L.) larvae. No-choice and multiple-choice laboratory feeding studies revealed that C. coreana, C. fargesii, C. laxiflora, and the hybrid C. caroliniana x C. orientalis were the least suitable for larval development and pupation, and were less preferred by gypsy moth larvae. Suitability rankings for gypsy moth larval development time were highly correlated with larval longevity, but the proportion of …

Influence Of Age On Decision Making By Ovipositing Pieris Rapae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)., Brett Breitkreutz, Tracy Le Wagner, Rodrigo J. Mercader

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Due to its effect on the time available for host selection and learning, butterfly age is expected to alter the degree of host specificity and potentially niche breadth. Here, we use the small cabbage white, Pieris rapae L., to test the effect of age on ovipositional specificity and decision-making time. Specifically, we examined the ovipositional behavior of P. rapae 4, 8, and 12 days post-emergence. Females were recorded in thirty-minute trials using leaves of two hosts, mustard leaves, Brassica juncea, and collard greens, Brassica oleracea Acephala group, and the non-host common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris. Subsequently, we measured …

Cover Art For Tgle Vol. 54 Nos. 1 & 2

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Cover Art for TGLE Vol. 54 Nos. 1 & 2