Overwintered Mexican Bean Beetles: Emergence From Overwintering Sites, Fecundity, Fertility, and Longevity
- 15 September 1978
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Annals of the Entomological Society of America
- Vol. 71 (5) , 724-727
- https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/71.5.724
Abstract
A higher % of Mexican bean bettle, Epilachna varivestis Mulsant, adults survived the winter in heavy accumulations of pine litter which was a more suitable habitat than light accumulations of pine litter, field litter, or sweet gum litter. Emergence from overwintering sites occurred in Apr. and May generally following periods of rainfall. Overwintered adults that fed on soybeans the previous year, lived an avg of 58.4 days (30.7 physiological days) following spring emergence while feeding on snap beans and oviposited an avg of 11 egg masses. Mean eclosion of eggs was 75%. An avg of 57.2 eggs/mass were oviposited every 3.5 days (2.3 physiological days) while feeding on snap beans. High densities of larval and adult Mexican bean beetle populations produced intraspecific competition for food which resulted in egg predation.This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Validation of a Physiological Day Equation: Development of the Mexican Bean Beetle on Snap Beans and SoybeansEnvironmental Entomology, 1978