Download Corn and Soybean Bugs

Corn and
Soybean Bugs
…or things that eat your
dinner before you get to
Complete Metamorphosis
•About 88% of
insects of through
this like butterflies,
bees, flies, beetles
Incomplete Metamorphosis
 Grasshoppers,
dragonflies
and
cockroaches
go through
this, which is
about 12% of
insects
Corn Insects
Corn Rootworm Larvae
• In the winter, they lay
eggs in soil
• In the spring, the eggs
hatch and eat corn roots
• Corn Rootworm Adults
come in three types
•
•
•
Northern corn rootworm larva
Northern
Western
Southern
• They produce 1
generation per year
• They feed on ears, silks,
pollen
Western corn rootworm larva
Wireworm
• Larvae feed on roots
and plant growing
point and stem
• It takes several
years to become
adult Click Beetle
• The adult doesn’t
cause plant injury;
just the larvae do
Grubs
• An example of a grub is
a Japanese beetle
• Grape colaspis
• White grub is also
called a June Beetle)
• They feed on roots
Japanese Beetle
Grape colaspis
June Beetle
Grub Damage
Cutworms
• The Black Cutworm is
•
•
•
•
•
•
the most common and
important
Sandhill is another type
Variegated is another
type
They produce several
generations per year
Young larvae feed on
corn foliage
Older larvae cut plants
off near soil level
They feed at night
Variegated
Black
Cutworm Damage
Corn Leaf Aphid
• They come up from
the southern U.S.
• They produce up to
10 generations per
year
• They eat by piercing
and sucking
• They are especially
damaging during
drought
Nymph
Adult
Corn Leaf Aphid Damage
Corn Earworm
• Many crops affected
by the corn
earworm such as
field corn, cotton,
soybean, sweet
corn, and popcorn
• They damage corn
ears and the cotton
bowl
Corn Earworm Damage
Fall Armyworm
• They eat the whorl
and leaves on a
plant
• They migrate north
from south
• They travel or move
in large numbers
which gives them
their name
True Armyworm
Armyworm Damage
Flea Beetles
• The larvae feed on plant roots
• The adults feed on leaves
• They transfer bacterial diseases to plant
Flea Beetle Damage
European Corn Borer
• They attack corn, peppers, potatoes
• They produce 2-3 generations per year
• In the winter the larvae live in field debris
• In the spring, they become adults
• In June, the adults lay eggs on plant, the
larvae feed on leaves and bore into plant
stem, then become adults
• In July – October, the adults lay eggs, larvae
damage inside stalk making the plants fall
down or a poor ear develops
European Corn Borer
Soybean Insects
Japanese Beetle
• The larvae feed on
roots
• The adults chew on
and and damage
leaves
• This means the pod
doesn’t fill well and
there is less to
harvest
Stink Bug
• The adult
attacks the pod
and seed
causing damage
• This means
some pods don’t
develop or there
are small,
shriveled beans
in pods
Stink Bug Damage
Stink bugs feed on plant fluids by inserting their
needlelike mouthparts into stems, leaves or seed
pods. While feeding, they inject materials into the
plant to digestion and remove sap.
Mexican Bean Beetle
• The larvae feed on leaves. They are very
large larvae with a very large appetite)
• The adults look like an overgrown “lady
bug”
Mexican Bean Beetle Damage
Spider Mites
• This insect pierces and sucks out the
materials inside the plant cell
• During drought, the damage can be severe
Spider Mite Damage
Bean Leaf Beetle
• The larvae feed
on roots and
root nodules
• The adult
causes leaf
damage
Bean Leaf Beetle Damage
White Grubs
• The root damage
look like that done
on corn roots
True white grub, showing raster
European chafer larvae are white with an
orange-brown head and dark back end.
You can tell them apart from the other
white grubs by the Y-pattern of the back
end bristles (rasters).
White Grub Damage
How To Control
Chemical Control
• Insecticides kill bugs
• Herbicides kill weeds
• Nematicides kill
roundworms
• Farmers apply the from
the air, from a tractor
onto the soil and inject
them into the soil
Biological Control
• This word means
control using other
living things
• Examples include
parasitic insects, fungi,
and bacteria
Biotechnology Control
• Bacillus thuringiensis is
a bacteria that causes
larvae stop eating,
become limp, shrink,
die, and decompose
• Fungi are used to
control weeds
• Genetic engineering
design plants to
naturally resist disease