Although many different insects can be found in rice fields in Florida, stink bugs are currently con sidered the most important pest. Jones & Cherry (1986) reported that the rice stink bug, Oebalus pugnax (F.), was the dominant species comprising >95% of the total stink bug population. Cherry et al. (1998) reported that the stink bug, Oebalus yp silongriseus (DeGeer) was widespread in Florida rice fields. This was the first report of this species being found in commercial rice fields in the United States. Cherry and Nuessly (2010) reported that the stink bug, Oebalus insularis (Stal) is now wide spread in Florida rice fields. This was the first re port of this species being found in commercial rice fields in the United States. Two other stink bug species which attack Flor ida rice are Euschistus ictericus (L.) and the south ern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.) (Genung et al. 1979). Previous to this study, these 5 stink bug species were all observed by the author in light trap samples taken at the Everglades Research and Education Center, Palm Beach County, Flor ida. This center is located near the center of the rice producing area in southern Florida. The center itself consists of a mosaic of rice, sugarcane, vege table, turf, and biofuel plots. Nothing is known on the seasonal flight of these 5 rice pests in southern Florida. Hence, the objective of this study was to determine the seasonal flight activity of these 5 stink bug species which attack Florida rice. Flight activity of stink bugs was measured with a large, walk-in black light trap. This trap measured 2 m x 2 m x 2.5 m high and was made of w od with screened sides. On the top was a 15 watt black light with a funnel through which in sects fell into the trap below. The trap was located on the Everglades Research and Education Cen te at Belle Glade, Florida in an area composed of mixed vegetation (various crops, grasses, weeds, trees). The trap was used twice weekly at 3-4-d in tervals from Jan 1, 2008 to Jan 1, 2010. After col lection by vacuuming, stink bugs were frozen for later taxonomic identification and sex determina tion. Samples from within each month for both years were pooled. Thereafter a Least Significant Difference Test (SAS 2010) was conducted to com pare mean monthly catches for each stink bug species. Fifty adults of each species were ran domly selected from samples and dissected to de termine sex ratios. These ratios were tested by Chi-square analysis for each species to determine if the ratios were significantly different from an expected 1 to 1 sex ratio. Adults of both sexes were caught in light trap samples in all 5 species. Chi-square analysis showed that there was no significant deviation from the expected 1 to 1 sex ratio in any of the 5 species. The largest Chi-square value found was 1.62 among the species, this not being significant at alpha = 0.05 (1 df). Monthly catches of stink bugs in the black light are shown in Table 1. Flight activity of all 5 species was remarkably in synchrony, being unimodal with greatest catches in Jul in all spe
Read full abstract
Oct 11, 2024
Nalleli Garcia + 2
Open Access