Abstract
Larvae of Selenisa sueroides (Guenee) are known to use the spaghetti tubing on microsprinkler assemblies in Florida citrus groves as alternate hosts to native plant species with hollow stems. The S. sueroides caterpillars chew holes in the spaghetti tubing in order to enter and pupate. An experiment was conducted to determine if S. sueroides caterpillars preferred certain materials or colors of spaghetti tubing over others. Emitter assemblies consisting of eight combinations of material and color were placed in plots of Aeschynomene americana (American jointvetch) and Aeschynomene evenia, known hosts to S. sueroides. Assemblies using tubing made from black polyethylene (poly) tubing had the highest percentage of assemblies in which at least one hole was started. Over 37% of the black poly assemblies were attacked as compared to less than 5% on two assemblies made from vinyl materials. Assemblies with black tubing had almost three times the percentage of assemblies attacked (at least one attempt per assembly) compared to tubing of other colors. In addition, the black assemblies averaged 3.1 attempts per unit as compared to 0.5 for tubing of other colors.
Published Version
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