ISHS Acta Horticulturae 810: IX International Vaccinium Symposium
INSECT LIFE HISTORIES IN FRUIT, SHOOT AND ROOT ENVIRONMENTS OF CRANBERRY AND BLUEBERRY |
| Author: | S.M. Fitzpatrick |
| Keywords: | insect life history, integrated pest management, fruit feeding, herbivory, root feeding, edaphic, plant virus vector, pheromone |
| Abstract:
Significant arthropod pests of cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon, and blueberry, V. corymbosum, V. ashei (syn. V. virgatum), and V. angustifolium, are discussed in the context of insect adaptation to resources provided by the plant in seasonal temperate environments. Most Vaccinium pests are constrained by the need to reproduce during the growing season yet enter diapause in time to withstand winter. Pest arthropods usually damage Vaccinium tissue as larvae by feeding on fruit, blossoms, buds, leaves, stems or roots. Fruit-feeding larvae access an ephemeral, high-quality resource where they are protected from ultraviolet radiation and parasitoids, but experience limited space as they grow. Larvae of cranberry fruitworm, Acrobasis vaccinii; blueberry maggot, Rhagoletis mendax; cherry fruitworm, Grapholita packardi; sparganothis fruitworm, Sparganothis sulfureana; and plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar are exclusively or primarily fruit-feeders. Adults of the Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, also feed on fruit. The most ephemeral and very high quality resource, the blossom, is used by cranberry/blueberry blossom weevil, Anthonomus musculus, for oviposition and larval development. This weevil has many different host plants, perhaps covering the risk that gravid females may not always locate cranberry or blueberry blossoms at the appropriate time. Other pests combine a foliage- and fruit-feeding lifestyle, with one or two generations of larvae that feed in spring on new apical tissue, buds and blossoms, and in summer on mature foliage that is declining in nutritional quality, plus fruit. These pests are mostly lepidopterans, including spanworms (Geometridae), cutworms (Noctuidae), and tortricids such as blackheaded fireworm, Rhopobota naevana. Cranberry tipworm/blueberry gall midge, Dasineura oxycoccana, feeds only on shoot tips. Root-feeding larvae develop in a cooler, darker environment than above-ground pests, and feed on woody or fibrous tissue that has lower nutritional quality than early season foliage or fruit. Larval development of soil-dwelling root pests is prolonged compared to above-ground pests. Most root pests are coleopteran (Chrysomelidae, Curculionidae, Glaphyridae and Scarabaeidae) although there is one significant lepidopteran (Pyralidae). | |
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