SURVEY OF PEST MOLE CRICKETS (ORTHOPTERA: GRYLLOTALPIDAE) ACTIVITY ON PASTURE IN SOUTH-CENTRAL FLORIDA
Abstract
Histories of pest mole cricket activity (Scapteriscus spp. Scudder) (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae) on bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Fluegge) pastures were needed to provide baseline data for evaluating on-going biological control with Steinernema scapterisci (Nguyen and Smart) nematodes. Seven ∼4-ha pastures were selected from five county sites for the survey. These consisted of one mole cricket-infested bahiagrass pasture each from two ranches in Polk county and from one ranch each in Manatee and Pasco counties. The rest were two renovated and uninfested pastures located at the Range Cattle Research and Education Center, Ona, in Hardee county and a third in Desoto county. Six linear pitfall traps (each 12.2 m total) were installed on equal subdivisions (0.67 ha) of each of the seven pastures in July 1997 and labeled 1 to 6 at each site according to a visually-determined decreasing slope of terrain. Traps were cleaned weekly from the time of installation through December 1999, and the total weekly-captures per trap of tawny, S. vicinus (Scudder) and southern, S. borellii, (Giglio-Tos) mole crickets were recorded along with weekly rainfall for each site. The mean, weekly mole cricket capture on heavily-infested bahiagrass pastures increased exponentially over time beginning with the early summer rains. Mean weekly-count on these pastures peaked at 20-60 juveniles per trap, depending on site, in June-July and then declined sharply through September and October as mole crickets matured. The annual mean weekly-capture on heavily-infested pastures was 10 to 12 juveniles per trap. There was very little surface activity by overwintering adult mole crickets during December and January. Mean weekly-capture on uninfested new bahiagrass pasture was erratic and usually less than 2 juveniles per trap. The data suggest that peak weekly mole cricket pitfall trap captures between June and August in excess of 20 juveniles per trap and a total seasonal capture in excess of 43 m-1 of trap were indicative of a serious infestation problem.View this article in BioOne
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