In central Canada, surveys for the three invasive (Palearctic) Agriotes species-A. obscurus, A. lineatus, and A.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith increasingly fewer insecticides registered to control the larvae of pest click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae), integrative beetle management, including pheromone- and light-based trapping of adult beetles, must be explored as an alternative strategy. Here, we analyzed the spectral sensitivity and color preference of 9 elaterids across 6 genera in electrophysiological recordings and in behavioral bioassays. In electroretinogram recordings (ERGs), dark-adapted beetles were exposed to narrow wavebands of light in 10-nm increments from 330 to 650 nm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransgenic corn and cotton that produce Cry and Vip3Aa toxins derived from (Bt) are widely planted in the United States to control lepidopteran pests. The sustainability of these Bt crops is threatened because the corn earworm/bollworm, (Boddie), is evolving a resistance to these toxins. Using Bt sweet corn as a sentinel plant to monitor the evolution of resistance, collaborators established 146 trials in twenty-five states and five Canadian provinces during 2020-2022.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs part of an insect resistance management plan to preserve Bt transgenic technology, annual monitoring of target pests is mandated to detect susceptibility changes to Bt toxins. Currently Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) monitoring involves investigating unexpected injury in Bt crop fields and collecting larvae from non-Bt host plants for laboratory diet bioassays to determine mortality responses to diagnostic concentrations of Bt toxins. To date, this monitoring approach has not detected any significant change from the known range of baseline susceptibility to Bt toxins, yet practical field-evolved resistance in H.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe western bean cutworm, Striacosta albicosta (Smith), is considered a major corn pest in North America. In 2009, it started invading the province of Québec (northeastern Canada). To our knowledge, there has been no evidence that this pest could overwinter in this province.
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