The Relationship of Rainfall to Adult Flight Activity; and of Soil Moisture to Oviposition Behavior and Egg and First Instar Survival in Phyllophaga crinita12

Abstract

Phyllophaga crinita (Burmeister) adult flights were closely related to rainfall patterns. In the laboratory, adults did not oviposit in very wet or very dry soil. Eggs and larvae survived in a relatively wide range of soil moisture conditions, but survival for eggs and early-instar larvae was poor in very wet or dry soil. When given a choice of soil moisture conditions for oviposition, adults either did not oviposit in wet soil, or eggs that were deposited did not survive. The relationship of human watering patterns in urban environments to immature survival is discussed.