Bibliography of the Cereal Leaf Beetle, Oulema melanopus (L.) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Abstract

Extensive reference lists or selected bibliographies about the cereal leaf beetle, Oulema melanopus (L.), a pest of small grains, have been published by Venturi (1942), Grison et al. (1963), Anonymous (1967), and Wellso et al. (1969). A renewed interest in the cereal leaf beetle as a pest of small grains occurred in 1962 when the insect was initially identified in North America from specimens collected in southern Michigan. Since 1962, the insect has spread eastward with the prevailing winds to the Atlantic Ocean and now occupies an area from southern Canada to North Carolina and west to Missouri. About 25% of the small grains now grown in the United States are confined within this area, and since 1972 the insect has been established in Missouri, west of the Mississippi River. Its population has not spread further west than several counties adjacent to the Mississippi River. More recently, the insect has been spreading northwestward to Wisconsin.