European skipper (Lepidoptera: Thymelicus lineola) was introduced to North America several decades ago and has been moving west and north in its distribution. Specimens confirmed as T. lineola were collected in 2016 near Valleyview, Donnelly and High Prairie (2017 Otani and Schmidt, pers. comm.).
There is one generation per year and the five larval instar stages cause damage associated with defoliation of the upper leaves of timothy. In 2015, European skipper larvae were observed feeding in the flag leaves of winter wheat near Mayerthorpe (2015 Meers, pers. comm.).
A pdf copy of the European skipper pages has been extracted from the 2009 Alberta Forage Manual for printing and a screenshot is included below so growers and agrologists can familiarize themselves with the larval stage, the damage to the upper leaves of timothy (which can resemble grasshopper damage), and the larva's habit of tying the sides of a leaf together.
You can link to Insects of Alberta where R. Bercha has posted a wonderful photo of an adult!
Thursday, 19 January 2017
Cereal leaf beetle information
Information related to Cereal leaf beetle (Coleoptera: Oulema melanopus) has been posted below so growers and agrologists can print or view during the 2017 growing season.
Cereal leaf beetle overwinters as an adult and the larval stages can cause economic losses owing to feeding damage on the leaves of cereals although the species has a broad host plant range (i.e., includes oats, wheat, barley, rye, corn but also wild oats, quackgrass, timothy, canary grass, reed canary grass, annual and perennial ryegrass, foxtail, orchard grass, wild rye, smooth brome and fescues). There is one generation per year.
Extensive Cereal leaf beetle information for the Canadian prairies is posted and updated on the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network's Blog (click to link to an example including biology and monitoring tips).
Fact sheets for cereal leaf beetle are published by the province of Alberta and available from the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network. Also access the Oulema melanopus page from the new "Field crop and forage pests and their natural enemies in western Canada - Identification and management field guide". A screen shot of the page is below for reference.
Cereal leaf beetle is attacked by an effective biological control agent, Tetrastichus julis, which is a small wasp that selectively seeks out and parasitizes the larval stages of its host. Dr. Hector Carcamo (AAFC-Lethbridge) recently prepared a description of T. julis and its impact on cereal leaf beetle in Canada. A screen shot is below for reference or hyperlink to the document.
Cereal leaf beetle overwinters as an adult and the larval stages can cause economic losses owing to feeding damage on the leaves of cereals although the species has a broad host plant range (i.e., includes oats, wheat, barley, rye, corn but also wild oats, quackgrass, timothy, canary grass, reed canary grass, annual and perennial ryegrass, foxtail, orchard grass, wild rye, smooth brome and fescues). There is one generation per year.
Extensive Cereal leaf beetle information for the Canadian prairies is posted and updated on the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network's Blog (click to link to an example including biology and monitoring tips).
Cereal leaf beetle is attacked by an effective biological control agent, Tetrastichus julis, which is a small wasp that selectively seeks out and parasitizes the larval stages of its host. Dr. Hector Carcamo (AAFC-Lethbridge) recently prepared a description of T. julis and its impact on cereal leaf beetle in Canada. A screen shot is below for reference or hyperlink to the document.
During the growing season, be sure to check out the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network's Blog for the Weekly Updates. Bioclimatic modelling is used, together with current environmental data from across the prairies, to predict the occurrence of the various developmental stages of Cereal leaf beetle larvae to aid scouting efforts. Because the weather changes, the bioclimatic model outputs are updated weekly through the growing season and particularly in the spring. Additionally, bioclimatic modelling is used to help predict when the biological control agent, T. julis, will be active and to help predict its development within its host (cereal leaf beetle larvae) through the growing season.
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