Infestation of poppy cultures with the poppy stem gall wasp (Timaspis papaveris) Cynipidae: Hymenoptera

Abstract

The mortality of pupae in stems lying on the ground during hibernation was 51.7% in 2003. The emergence of adults in 2003 and 2004 was monitored from late April to early July by photoeclectors placed on fields that grew poppy the previous year. Most adult gall wasps emerged in April to early May 2004. The occurrence of females ovipositing on poppy stems varied from April to July and the degree of damage to the plants increased. Most frequently the females oviposited in the first stem internodes. The infestation of poppy cultures with the gall wasps was almost uniform, the number of infested plants increasing still in June. In late June, only seven out of 600 plants were not infested. Green sticks covered with non-coagulating glue and placed in the poppy field, indicated the stem heights frequented by ovipositing females. The gall wasp larvae were parasitised by <i>Trichomalus bracteatus</i> Walker and <i>Pseudotorymus papaveris</i> Ruschka, with <i>T. bracteatus</i> predominating. Most frequently, gall wasp larvae inside the seventh internode were parasitised by this species.