DELIA SPP. (DIPTERA: ANTHOMYIIDAE) INFESTING CANOLA IN ALBERTA

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Abstract
At the beginning of July 1981 we were informed by plant pathologists conducting disease surveys on canola (= rapeseed) (Brassica campestris L. cvs. Candle, Torch, B. napus L. cvs. Altex, Regent, Tower) in Alberta of the presence of root maggots (Delia spp.) (= Hylemya spp.) in the crop. Although this is not the first observation of this genus infesting canola, no documented account of its geographic distribution or the significance of its damage was available. Canola is an oilseed crop which over the past 10 years has occupied, on average, 1.6 million hectares annually in the three prairie provinces. Therefore, we decided to (a) determine the extent of the damage in Alberta, and (b) collect and rear the insects from infested roots so they could be identified.