Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 9.1.
A selection of pests of regions or special crop circumstances. Below are references for more
information on the pest. If one of these pests is of interest, we suggest consulting the Internet for images
of the taxon and using the reference listed to find more information.
Ta x a
Type of damage
Useful references
Acari (mites)
Tetranychidae
Leaf stippling, yellowing, bronzing,
wilting
Fathi and Nouri-
Ganbalani, 2010
Tetranychus urticae
Tarsonemidae
Leaf stippling, yellowing, bronzing,
wilting
Peña and Bullock, 1994
Polyphagotarsonemus latus
Symphyla (symphylans)
Scutigerellidae
Root trimming, shallow pits in
tuber skin
Umble and Fisher, 2003
Scutigerella immaculata
Insecta
Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae
Shot-holes in foliage, shallow pits and
tunnels in tubers
Eyre and Giltrap, 2012
Epitrix
flea beetles
Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae
Root trimming, broad shallow holes
and pits in tubers
Chandel
et al
., 2013
White grubs
Diptera: Anthomyiidae
Seed tuber damage that often leads
to rot
Delia
e.g. seedcorn maggot
Diptera: Tipulidae
Broad shallow holes and pits in tubers
Blackshaw and
Kerry, 2008
Craneflies
Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae
General plant weakening, rarely
reaching damaging levels
Whiteflies
Hemiptera: Miridae
Leaf or leaflet flagging, often little
visible damage
Wheeler, 2001
Lygus
plant bugs
Hemiptera: Pentatomidae
Flagging of leaves or entire stems, but
sometimes without visible damage
Stink bugs
Hymenoptera: Formicidae
Burrowing in stems and tubers
Chandel
et al
., 2013
Ants
Isoptera: Termitidae
Burrowing in stems and tubers
Chandel
et al
., 2013
Termites
Lepidoptera: Crambidae
Tunneling in aboveground stems
Ziems
et al
., 2008
Ostrynia
European corn borer
Lepidoptera: Noctuidae
General leaf defoliation
Loopers, cutworms
Thysanoptera: Thripidae
Leaf stippling and pitting
Abad
et al
., 2005
Thrips
Fathi and Nouri-
Ganbalani, 2010
yellow sticky traps, beating sheets, pheromone
traps, vacuum devices, water pan traps, pitfall
traps, soil core sampling, and baited devices. The
type of sampling method employed varies by
production region and the comfort level of each
sampling type by the practitioner. Many insects
are small and cryptic, making active sampling
difficult for most consultants and producers. The
sampling method of choice is often one that at-
tracts pests by color or odor to a site where they
can be trapped and assessed more easily.
Monitoring a pest species is important, but
without the concept of the economic injury
level, monitoring does little for an IPM program.
Stern
et al
. (1959) developed the concept of the
economic injury level, the components of which
are economic damage, economic injury level,
and the economic threshold. In most simple
terms, economic damage is defined as the
amount of injury to the crop that justifies the
costs associated with implementing control
measures. The economic injury level is the low-
est pest population density with the potential to
cause economic crop damage. The economic
threshold is defined as the population density
at which control of the pest should be initiated
in order to prevent the pest from reaching the
economic injury level.