The Kean–Barlow model predicts how the equilibrium distribution and abundance of a population may be affected by local rates of increase, dispersal, colonisation, and extinction. Here, the model is parameterised for three insects: the Glanville fritillary Melitaea cinxia in Åland, Finland, the ribbonwood aphid Paradoxaphis plagianthi in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the coxella weevil Hadramph...

An inventory of the weevil fauna of Mona Island, Puerto Rico, is provided. Sixteen new records and 5-9 new species are reported, yielding a total of 28 species of Curculionoidea for the island. The distribution and natural history of each species are briefly reviewed. As many as nine species are endemics, whereas 15 species are shared with Puerto Rico which was the primary source region for Pli...

White pine weevil (Pissodes strobi, Peck.) is a native forest insect pest in the Pacific Northwest of North America that attacks species of spruce (Picea spp.) and pine (Pinus spp.). Young Sitka spruce [Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.] trees are particularly susceptible to weevil attack. Pockets of naturally occurring Sitka spruce resistance have been identified in high weevil hazard areas in co...

Classical biological control programs often target a pest's region of origin as a likely source for new biological control agents. Here, we use this approach to search for biological control agents of the sunflower stem weevil (Cylindrocopturus adspersus LeConte), an economically important pest of commercial sunflower. We conducted surveys of weevil natural enemy diversity and abundance across ...

Understanding the critical host plant factors that determine oviposition behavior and survival of boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman, on cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., is important for developing successful pest management strategies. However, published information is both conßicting and limited regarding how different cotton fruit sizes affect boll weevil oviposition choices and s...

Flat and cylindrical adhesive boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), pheromone traps captured significantly more (P < or = 0.05) boll weevils than the Hercon (Hercon Environmental, Emigsville, PA) trap during the late cotton-growing season, and larger adhesive areas were associated with higher captures; a flat plywood board collected the most boll weevils b...

Pea weevil (Bruchus pisorum L.) oviposition on pods of specific genetic lines of pea (Pisum sativum L.) stimulates cell division at the sites of egg attachment. As a result, tumor-like growths of undifferentiated cells (neoplasms) develop beneath the egg. These neoplasms impede larval entry into the pod. This unique form of induced resistance is conditioned by the Np allele and mediated by a re...

Postrelease studies can provide data with which to evaluate expectations based on prerelease tests of biological control insects. In 2004, we observed Trichosirocalus horridus Panzer (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), the rosette weevil introduced into North America against Eurasian thistles, feeding on native tall thistle, Cirsium altissimum L. Spreng., in tallgrass prairie. In this study, we examin...

—Seed predation has the potential to strongly reduce seed production and thereby act as a selective force on the evolution of flowering traits and other defenses against herbivory. We characterized levels of predispersal seed predation on Hibiscus moscheutos (Malvaceae) during 2001 and 2002 at four sites in Ohio and Maryland, USA. The seed predators were a weevil, Conotrachelus fissinguis (Cole...

The use of cold treatments to kill the rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (L.), before eclosionbut allow theparasitoidAnisopteromalus calandrae (Howard) tocompletedevelopment and eclosion was examined. Cold tolerance, crystallization temperature, and developmental stage of rice weevilswere examined at 2-d intervals between 18 and 30d after riceweevil oviposition. Themedian crystallization temperatu...