Host Plants of the Tarnished Plant Bug (Heteroptera: Miridae) in Central Texas

• Published in: Environmental entomology Vol. 36; no. 4; pp. 725 - 730
• Main Authors: Esquivel, J. F, Mowery, S. V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lanham, MD Entomological Society of America 01-08-2007
• Subjects: alfalfa; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; COMMUNITY AND ECOSYSTEM ECOLOGY; cotton; crops; Feeding Behavior - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gossypium hirsutum; Heteroptera - physiology; host plants; Lygus lineolaris; Medicago sativa; Nymph; overwintering; Plants - parasitology; Population Dynamics; Seasons; Synecology; tarnished plant bug; Terrestrial ecosystems; Texas; weed hosts; Texas; United States; North America; America; Malvaceae; Insecta; Lygus lineolaris; tarnished plant bug; cotton; host plants; Fiber crop; Heteroptera; Miridae; Pest; Arthropoda; Dicotyledones; Host plant; Angiospermae; Host range; Wild plant; Spermatophyta; Gossypium hirsutum; Invertebrata; Floral survey
• ISSN: 0046-225X; 1938-2936
• DOI: 10.1603/0046-225X%282007%2936%5B725%3AHPOTTP%5D2.0.CO%3B2

The tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois), has taken on added importance as a pest of cotton in the Cotton Belt after successful eradication efforts for the boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman). Because the Southern Blacklands region of Central Texas is in advanced stages of boll weevil eradication, blooming weeds and selected row crops were sampled during a 3-yr study to determine lygus species composition and associated temporal host plants. L. lineolaris was the sole lygus species in the region. Thirteen previously unreported host plants were identified for L. lineolaris, of which 69% supported reproduction. Rapistrum rugosum L. Allioni and Ratibida columnifera (Nuttall) Wooton and Standley were primary weed hosts during the early season (17 March to 31 May). Conyza canadensis L. Cronquist variety canadensis and Ambrosia trifida L. were primary weed hosts during the midseason (1 June to 14 August) and late-season (15 August to 30 November), respectively. Sisymbrium irio L. and Lamium amplexicaule L. sustained L. lineolaris populations during the overwintering period (1 December to 16 March). The proportion of females and numbers of nymphs found in R. rugosum, C. canadensis, A. trifida, and S. irio suggests these weeds supported reproductive adults during the early, mid-, and late season and overwintering period, respectively. Medicago sativa L. was the leading crop host for L. lineolaris; Glycine max L. Merrill did not yield L. lineolaris. Few L. lineolaris were collected in Gossypium hirsutum L. These results provide a more comprehensive assessment of host plants contributing to L. lineolaris populations in central Texas.