Field Distribution of <I>Dasineura oxycoccana</I> (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) Adults, Larvae, Pupae, and Parasitoids and Evaluation of Monitoring Trap Designs in Florida

Abstract

Blueberry gall midge, Dasineura oxycoccana (Johnson), is a pest of cultivated blueberries throughout the world. Larvae feed and develop in developing leaf buds, and also in flower buds of rabbiteye blueberries, which causes buds to fall off the plant. These injuries can cause up to 80% yield loss in heavy infestations. As the larvae are protected from insecticides, adults must be targeted with foliar applications. Consequently, the detection of adults through an effective monitoring program is critical to time insecticide sprays against the blueberry gall midge. Understanding the distribution of the midge and its parasitoids is also important information for developing a more effective pest management program. A comparison of three monitoring trap types demonstrated that bucket emergence traps and clear panel traps captured similar numbers of midges, although the bucket trap is more sensitive at low population levels. Using bucket emergence traps, we found that nearly 80% of the midges collected pupated within 48 cm of the blueberry bush, suggesting that a targeted soil treatment may be a viable integrated pest management tactic that could be included in a midge management program. Traps and bud samples demonstrated that adult and larval midges and parasitoids were randomly distributed throughout the field in both years, with the exception of larval aggregation in early 2012. As parasitoid distribution is parallel to host occurrence within blueberry plantings, this increases the potential for biological control activities against the blueberry gall midge in fields that do not receive broad-spectrum insecticide applications.

Attraction of Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs, Halyomorpha halys, to Blooming Sunflower Semiochemicals

“…Female midges depend on young leaves or fresh shoot tips for feeding and oviposition (Cockfield and Mahr 1995;Hallett 2007;Wearing et al 2013). Many cecidomyiid midges are agricultural pests because larval feeding on crop plants reduces the leaf surface and curtails the formation of buds which would otherwise develop into fruiting bodies (Allison et al 1995;Fitzpatrick et al 2018;Rhodes et al 2014;Tewari et al 2014;Wearing et al 2013). For example, females of the cranberry tipworm, Dasineura oxycoccana (Johnson), emerge in spring coincident with the appearance of vegetative cranberry shoots (Cockfield and Mahr 1995;Fitzpatrick et al 2018).…”

First report of Dasineura oxycoccana in Lithuania - Short Communication

“…Blueberry gall midge Dasineura oxycoccana (Johnson, 1899) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) is a major insect pest of Vaccinium spp. (Steck et al 2000;Sampson et al 2006;Roubos & Liburd 2010, 2013Hahn & Isaacs 2012;Rhodes et al 2014;Hahn & Isaacs 2015). However, recent studies revealed that blueberry and cranberry are injured by two cryptic species (Fitzpatrick et al 2013).…”

“…The decrease of blueberry production could reach 20-85% and economic losses due to the pest may exceed up to 20 million USD annually. The gall midge is widespread in the United States (Rhodes et al 2014), however it spreads rapidly in various countries of Europe (Bosio et al 1998;Collins & Eyre 2010;Plažanin et al 2012;Seljak 2013;NPPO of the Czech Republic 2016;NPPO of Germany 2018).…”

A Bucket-Type Emergence Trap for Detecting Overwintered Dasineura oxycoccana (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) and Its Parasitoids in Cranberry

“…A bucket-type emergence trap for detecting overwintered Dasineura oxycoccana (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) and its parasitoids in cranberry Sheila M. Fitzpatrick 1,*,Warren H.L. Wong 2 ,Kieryn Matthews 2 ,Snehlata Mathur 1 ,Miranda Elsby 3 ,Kaitlyn Schurmann 4 ,and Lindsay N. Craig 2 Dasineura oxycoccana Johnson (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) is an economically significant pest of cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton (Ericaceae), and highbush blueberry species, including V. corymbosum L., V. corymbosum L. × V. darrowi Camp., and V. virgatum Aiton (all Ericaceae) (Dernisky et al 2005;Fitzpatrick 2009;Liburd & Averill 2016;Rhodes et al 2014). Host-associated populations of D. oxycoccana from cranberry (cranberry tipworm) and blueberry (blueberry gall midge) ) are genetically distinct (Mathur et al 2012), produce different pheromones (Fitzpatrick et al 2013) and do not interbreed (Cook et al 2011).…”

“…To test the hypothesis that overwintered cranberry tipworms emerge as adults during a prolonged period through spring and summer, we designed an emergence trap similar to the bucket traps evaluated in blueberries (Roubos & Liburd 2010;Hahn & Isaacs 2012;Rhodes et al 2014), but with some notable differences. Our buckettype emergence trap can be seated snugly onto the soil without damaging the mat of intertwined woody cranberry vines while allowing penetration of rain and irrigation water.…”