Effect of Beauveria Bassiana Fungus on the Boxelder and Red Shouldered Bugs (Hemiptera: Rhopalidae)

Authors

  • James A. Reinert
  • T. A. Knauf
  • Steven J. Maranz
  • Mahmod Bishr

Abstract

Laboratory studies were initiated to assay the efficacy of BioCide-TRF™ (Mycotrol GH-ES) Beauveria bassiana Vuill. on two nuisance pests of the family Rhopalidae that frequently take winter protection in and around urban and suburban buildings. Micro-application treatments (2.5 l droplet) of 6.5 105 conidia per insect, applied to the dorsal prothorax of the red shouldered bug, Jadera haematoloma (Herrich-Schaeffer), provided 100% control of adults in 8 d with 84% of the dead bugs expressing mycelia in that time period. Lower dosages did not provide significant mortality at 5 d, but by 8 d, 32-40% control was provided by the 4.0 104 and 1.6 105 conidia treatments. All adults of the boxelder bug, Boisea trivittatus (Say), exposed to treated leaves and seeds with the 1:100 dilution dose of Beauveria were killed within 7 d and 66.7% of the dead bugs expressed mycelia within 8 d. Significant mortality (83.3, 76.7 and 73.3%) was also provided by the 1:300, 1:500 and 1:1,000 dilution rates, respectively. This race of B. bassiana shows promise for control of both of these annual nuisance pests.

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Published

1999-09-01

Issue

Vol. 82, No. 3 (September 1999)

Section

Literature Review Articles

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