Retention of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., bolls and squares (referred to as fruit retention), boll damage, and resulting lint and seed weight loss were assessed when two (2010) and three (2011) age classes of sympodial fruiting branches with different ages of squares and bolls where exposed to verde plant bug, Creontiades signatus Distant (Hemiptera: Miridae), in cages in the field. An increasing trend was observed in fruit retention from the youngest to the oldest branch age treatment for both years, and the effect was primarily determined by the age of the fruiting body. Low fruit retention (<20%) was seen in young bolls <7 days old in the first two fruiting positions from the main stem compared with >80% retention in checks not exposed to verde plant bug. In infested cages, fruit retention of young bolls was significantly less (P = 0.016) than older bolls and squares 2–3 days before bloom or younger. Similar to fruit retention results, damage of harvested bolls and lint and seed weight (using zero for abscised fruit) differed among the age of the fruiting body primarily for fruiting positions one (2010 and 2011) and two (2011) (P < 0.0001). The first two fruiting positions were the main contributors to plant productivity differences in lint and seed weight. Overall, verde plant bugs given a feeding choice reduced fruit retention in young bolls <7 days old, damaged retained bolls <11 days old, and larger bolls and young squares at least 2–3 days from bloom incurred significantly less abscission and damage. These results supported the interpretation that less fruit retention and more damage of young bolls justified a focus on protecting young bolls in a pest management program, especially during early to peak bloom when young bolls are abundant.

The western tarnished plant bug, Lygus hesperus Knight, is an important pest of crops in the western U.S. Research on the biology of L. hesperus often relies on access to healthy insects from laboratory cultures. However, maintenance of colony vigor often requires periodic introductions of field-collected specimens or re-initiation of the colony. Either approach poses a risk of introducing diseases with the field-collected insects. We examined the potential utility of exposure to ultraviolet light (UV-C) as a way to sterilize adult L. hesperus previously treated with spores of Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin, and also examined the influence of exposure to UV-C on subsequent reproduction by lygus. Mortality of B. bassiana conidia increased rapidly with increased exposure to UV irradiation, which also delayed germination of conidia at exposure times ≥2 minutes. Based on assays 48 hours after exposure to UV, 6.45 minutes of exposure to UV-C (≈130 µW cm^-2) reduced germination of conidia to approximately 1%. When L. hesperus adults treated with B. bassiana were exposed to UV-C for 2 hours, infection by the pathogen was greatly decreased but not eliminated. Similar exposure of untreated L. hesperus adults did not reduce subsequent fecundity. Our results suggest that routine exposure of field-collected adults to UV-C irradiation may reduce the probability of introducing B. bassiana into laboratory colonies with little or no adverse reproductive consequences.

Recently, the brown stink bug, Euschistus servus (Say), has become the dominant species in the stink bug complex on cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., in Central Texas. Options to control the insect depend mostly on and are limited to the use of insecticide. Data are needed to determine the toxicity of currently available insecticides to brown stink bug and develop baseline mortality to assess resistance to insecticides in Central Texas. Using a glass-vial bioassay, the LC₁₀ and LC₅₀ values for selected commercially formulated insecticides, the technicalgrade active ingredients, and mixtures of active ingredients were determined for brown stink bugs captured in black-light traps near farmlands in Caldwell County, Texas. The LC₁₀ and LC₅₀ values showed the mixtures of technical-grade insecticides were 37- to 526- and 58- to 384-fold, respectively, more toxic to brown stink bug compared to the respective commercial formulations. The toxicological response of the technical-grade active ingredients relative to the mixtures varied from synergistic to antagonistic. Baseline data for brown stink bug mortality are useful for comparison with local populations should suspicion of tolerance to the insecticides develop in Central Texas. Data demonstrate lack of potentiation of the mixtures, probably because of absence of additivity or synergism in the composition of active and inert ingredients in the formulations or decreased composition of each component in the formulated mixtures.

We investigated predation by adult convergent lady beetle, Hippodamia convergens Guerin-Meneville, on English grain aphid, Sitobion avenae L., on wheat, Triticum aestivum L., growing in 1.8 × 1.8 m plantings in a greenhouse with a soil floor. The wheat was planted to simulate a typical production field, with one seed per 2.5 cm in each row, and rows planted 15.2 cm apart. The plot was artificially infested with aphids. Beetles in one group (designated “light-fed”) were provided with 20 English grain aphids of mixed instars per day, whereas beetles in a second group (designated “heavy-fed”) were provided with 80 English grain aphids per day for 4–6 days before observation. Beetles were observed foraging in the plot for a period of 12 minutes. For each visit to plants, and for movements of beetles on the soil floor of the plot, the amount of time spent searching and eating were recorded, as were incidents of beetle flight from one location to another in the plot or out of the plot. Air temperature, intensity of solar radiation, height of the wheat plants, and density of the aphids were measured concomitant with foraging observations. The number of aphids eaten in the wheat plots averaged 0.16 per minute. The number of aphids eaten per minute increased as the number of aphids per tiller increased (t = 3.80; df = 1, 46; P = 0.0004). Analysis of covariance applied to predation data from the aphid-infested plots indicated that light-fed beetles ate a significantly greater number of aphids per minute than did heavy-fed beetles (F = 5.35; df = 1, 212; P = 0.02). However, the number of aphids per tiller, the covariable in the analysis, was not significant (F = 1.64; df = 1, 211; P = 0.20), indicating that predation rate was not related to aphid density. This observation suggested that the physiological state of the beetles (poorly fed or well fed) was dominant over aphid density in influencing predation rate.

The potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc), is a native of North America and occurs from Central America to Canada. A newly emerging plant pathogen, Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum, associated with potato psyllids in North America and New Zealand, has become a major concern in many solanaceous crops worldwide. In potato, Solanum tuberosum L., the resulting disease is called zebra chip, but similar foliar and vascular symptoms have been reported in tomato, Solanum lycopersicum L., and peppers, Capsicum annuum L. To date, it is known that potato psyllids transmit Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum, and they are the primary mode of pathogen spread in potato, tomato, and pepper agroecosystems in North America and New Zealand. Potato psyllids have a rather wide range of hosts, including wild plants, from which the psyllids may spread to crop plants. Within the insect species, B. cockerelli, two biotypes are reported to exist. This differentiation was originally associated with hardiness to cold temperatures and can be monitored through genotypic variations in the cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) gene. In this study, two potato psyllid biotypes from four locations were delineated by melt temperature analysis following Sybr Green quantitative real-time PCR. In North Dakota, a northern extreme for the central range of potato psyllids, 100% of samples were “Central Biotype”; whereas, both biotypes (Central and Western) were found in Colorado where the two biotypes seem to overlap.

Two new species of Molophilus Curtis crane fly were discovered in Michigan. Molophilus michigan Taber and Molophilus muscarius Taber were collected in black ash (Fraxinus nigra Marshall) swamp in much of July, and the former species was collected well into August. Both flies belong to the gracilis species group. They are most similar to Molophilus huron Alexander and Molophilus paludicola Alexander but can be distinguished by structures of male terminalia.

A trap made from low-cost materials and using an attractant of a yeast mixture producing carbon dioxide was designed and evaluated to collect adult Aedes aegypti (L.) mosquitoes. The Trap Mosquito Box prototype was tested against the “standards” BG-Sentinel traps and CDC backpack aspirator in the field. The mean numbers of mosquitoes (± standard deviation) caught by the three different collection methods were: Trap Mosquito Box 2.42 (± 3.08), BG-Sentinel trap 2.86 (± 3.71), and backpack aspirator 0.59 (± 0.90). Statistical tests showed the Trap Mosquito Box and BG-Sentinel trap were equally effective in collecting A. aegypti and both methods were significantly different than the backpack aspirator. Emission of carbon dioxide produced by the yeast mixture was greatest during the first hours after incubation in a laboratory and captured the most mosquitoes in the Trap Mosquito Box. Production of carbon dioxide [Y = -631.24 941.26 (log x)] and the rate of mosquitoes captured per time period [Y = 20.29 23.50 (log x)] were best explained by logarithmic regressions. Advantages and disadvantages of the Trap Mosquito Box for mosquito surveillance are discussed.

During 2006, laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the pathogenicity of seven isolates of Pandora neoaphidis (Remaudière & Hennebert) against the cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae (L.). Two isolates were obtained from the aphids Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) (TEXRP1), and Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (TEXMP1), infesting broccoli (Brassica napus (L.)) in Texcoco, Mexico; the rest of the isolates were obtained from Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch) infesting sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench), in five localities in Tamaulipas, Mexico. The greatest percentages of mortality were caused by isolates RBF, TEXRP1, y RBB, at a rate of 87, 76, y 72%, respectively, 240 hours after the initiation of the treatments. These results show the potential of P. neoaphidis as an agent of biological control against B. brassicae, depending of the place and the origin of the isolate.

More than 120 hectares of orchards of commercial citrus were sampled in Morelos State, Mexico, to determine the presence of the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae). This important citrus pest, a vector of citrus greening disease, was detected in all stages of development, throughout the inspected area in 43% of the 566 sampled trees. The need for a regional integrated pest management strategy is discussed here.