Studies on the insect fauna of Iowa prairies

Abstract

relative distribution and occurrence of several hundred species of plants on the several types of prairie Y/as of great service in lining up the cocEiunities. Hayden (1919) recorded the floristic features of a prairie province in terms of ecological connromities. This province, two miles north of Ames, was stud ied intensively by the author to partially guide his observa tions at other stations. Some of the comnanities such as the Bouteloua hirsuta-B. curtipendula association and the Stipa spartea-Andropo^on scoparius association ivere no longer very extensive in area because of the extensive tillage and pasturage of such lands in the state. The comiaunities on lower and rougher ground T/ere much more numerous and more extensive. • Other communities such as Buchloe dactyloides-Bouteloua hirsuta association of G-itchie Hanito State Park may Tjndoubtedly occur, but they were not seen in tracts of sufficient extent to permit of the col lection of typical insects from them, Methods of Collecting Insects Several stations T/ithin one hour's driving distance of Ames were visited one to several times each T/eek from about the first of March until ITovember, or until mo^Tn in the later part of August, during the years 1925 to 1928, inclusive. At these stations basic collections were made at most of the plant coinmunities of this study. Except at the most distant situ ations collections v/ere made at other stations each month from i At all Andropogon coiainunities. Earliest adult, July 24, I I 1928; latest adult, Aug. 5, 1927. Hot numerous, Phoetaliotes nebrascensis Thorn. The author (1928) records this species from a Stipa-Bouteloua consmmity, and it is probably most numerous at the Bouteloua hirsuta ~ B. curtipendula association. Arethaea gracilipes constricta Brunn. At Andropogon scoparius ~ Bouteloua curtipendula associ-28ation,. 1 ni. west of Hamburg State ParlCj July 50, 1928, quite cosHiioii. Scudderia tesensis S, P. Andropop;o3i farcatus-Spartina Mcliausiana associes.

Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico

“…Okanagana balli is also a grass species that is distributed in the grasslands [70] of the northern Great Plains (Figure 49). It has been associated with weeds and grasses, lead plant (Amorpha canescens Pursh) [176] and stands of bluestem grass (Andropogon gerardii Vitman) [157]. We found specimens in remnants of prairie along railroad tracks in otherwise agricultural environments and on a remnant of tallgrass prairie in southern Minnesota.…”

“…It is found in grasses and weeds and has been associated with meadow environments on grasses and weeds [98] and Stipa spartea Trinius-Andropogon scoparius (Michaux)Nash habitats [157]. The subspecies C. calliope floridensis was erected for Florida specimens that were completely green without black markings [21].…”

The Grassland Biome

“…A survey of the citations of insect and spider predominance shows that the following species are sufficiently widespread in their importance to be considered as of associational importance : Species having sub-areas within the tall-grass prairie fall into three groups: those distributed about the central prairie of Iowa and Illinois, the northcentral of Iowa and Manitoba, and the southcentral of Iowa and Oklahoma. Hendrickson's (1928Hendrickson's ( , 1930Hendrickson's ( , 1931 findings are here taken as representative of the central prairie since no equivalent study has been ma·de in eastern Nebraska. Further studies are needed before the members of this very important group can be evaluated in detail.…”

“…) and Albertson ( 1937), and in central Oklahoma by Acker (1939), Carpenter (1939a), and C. Smith ( 1939), in northern Oklahoma by Blair ( 1938), and in Oklahoma in general by Bruner ( 1931). The animals of the following localities have also been studied: Niobrara Game Preserve, Nebraska: Vertebrates and a seasonal study of the invertebrates ( Beed, 1936) ; Ellis Co., Kansas; reptiles and amphibians (Brennan, 1937); Iowa: insects of various prairie communities (Hendrickson, 1930); Oklahoma: Faunal affinities of mammals and Orthoptera (Blair and Hubbell, 1938, p. 450), seasonal studies on invertebrates near Chickasha (V. Smith and Shackleford, 1928, Davidson and Shackleford, 1929, Shackleford and Brown 1929, Shackleford, 1931, in McClain Co. (Carpenter, 1939a), and in subseres from abandoned, eroded, and overgrazed farmland and prairie (C. Smith, 1939, Acker, 1939 and on mammal populations influenced by overgrazing (Phillips, 1936) and in normal conditions (Blair, 1938).…”

A selected bibliography of insectvascular plant associational studies

“…Some individual reports contain many sections treating specific plant-insect associations, such as the work by Packard (1890) on shade tree insects, Craighead (1950) on eastern forests, and the companion work by Keen (1958) on western forests. Others are valuable sources of more general associational data involving plant associes such as prairies (Hendrickson 1930(Hendrickson , 1931Vestal 1913), hammocks (Dozier 1920), and swamps. The works of Brues (1946) and Frost (1959) are basic ones that include general treatments of phytophagous insects; they contain extensive bibliographies.…”