LARVAL PARASITOID OF THE ZEBRA CATERPILLAR, MELANCHRA PICTA (HARRIS) (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE) ON BLUEBERRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

1993 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.Y. Li ◽  
D.E. Henderson ◽  
R. Feng

The zebra caterpillar, Melanchra picta (Harris), has been reported as a minor pest of corn (Philip 1990) and some small fruits (Belton 1988; Fitzpatrick and Troubridge 1991) in British Columbia. This pest also infests various vegetables, blueberries, and currants, and has become more and more abundant lately in the Fraser Valley (unpublished data). The larval parasitoid Limneria annulipes Harris (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) has been reported to parasitize zebra caterpillar populations in eastern Canada (Maxson 1948). Fitzpatrick (pers. comm.) found Winthemia quadripustulata (Fab.) (Hymenoptera: Tachinidae) from zebra caterpillars in British Columbia. Here we report the occurrence of another larval parasitoid reared from natural populations of M. picta collected from commercial high bush blueberry fields in Delta, British Columbia, during June of 1992.

1980 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 965-979 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROY TURKINGTON ◽  
GAIL D. FRANKO

This summary of biological data is for bird’s-foot trefoil, Lotus corniculatus L., which is weedy in Canada, particularly in eastern Canada and the Fraser valley of British Columbia. Bird’s-foot trefoil is an agricultural escapee and is often continuous over large areas of roadside and waste places. It can be controlled by the use of several common herbicides.


1979 ◽  
Vol 111 (8) ◽  
pp. 970-970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miktat Doǧanlar ◽  
Bryan P. Beirne

Pandemis heparana Den. and Schiff. is common throughout most of Europe and the Middle East to Siberia, China, Korea, and Japan. It feeds on a wide variety of deciduous trees and shrubs. It is regarded as a minor fruit tree pest in some areas as it can damage flowers and fruit.Three males and four females from a larger number reared from 87 larvae collected in the Lower Fraser Valley, British Columbia, were identified as of this species by Dr. A. Mutuura, Biosystematics Research Institute, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa. It apparently has not been recorded previously from North America.


1984 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth A. Neil

On 19 August 1982, a female noctuid moth resembling the Palearctic species Noctua pronuba (Linnaeus), which has recently been introduced into Eastern Canada (Neil 1981), was collected at an ultraviolet light at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia. An additional specimen, a male, was taken 13 September 1982. A third was seen, but not captured, 2 September 1982. A comparison of the British Columbia material with figures and descriptions of other Noctua species given by Bretherton et al. (1979) revealed them to represent Noctua comes (Hübner), based on their smaller size, light brown, narrow primaries, and well defined discal dot on the secondaries. This preliminary identification was later confirmed by external morphological and genitalic comparison with specimens of various Noctua species obtained from the Nova Scotia Museum collection in Halifax.


2010 ◽  
Vol 142 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Landolt ◽  
D. Thomas Lowery ◽  
Lawrence C. Wright ◽  
Constance Smithhisler ◽  
Christelle Gúedot ◽  
...  

AbstractLarvae of Abagrotis orbis (Grote) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) are climbing cutworms and can damage grapevines, Vitis vinifera L. (Vitaceae), in early spring by consuming expanding buds. A sex attractant would be useful for monitoring this insect in commercial vineyards. (Z)-7-Tetradecenyl acetate and (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate were found in extracts of female abdominal tips. In multiple field experiments, male A. orbis were captured in traps baited with a combination of these two chemicals but not in traps baited with either chemical alone. Males were trapped from mid-September to early October in south-central Washington and south-central British Columbia. Other noctuid moths (Mamestra configurata Walker, Xestia c-nigrum (L.), and Feltia jaculifera (Guenée)) were also captured in traps baited with the A. orbis pheromone and may complicate the use of this lure to monitor A. orbis. Abagrotis discoidalis (Grote) was captured in traps baited with (Z)-7-tetradecenyl acetate but not in traps baited with the two chemicals together.


1993 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. van den Berg ◽  
M. J. W. Cock ◽  
G. I. Oduor ◽  
E. K. Onsongo

AbstractSmallholder crops (sunflower, maize, sorghum and cotton) were grown in experimental plots at seven sites, representing different agricultural zones of Kenya, over four seasons. Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (formerly Heliothis armigera) only occasionally achieved population densities sufficient to cause obvious damage to the crops, and was virtually absent from the coastal sites. At the inland sites, infestation and mortality levels varied greatly. Information is presented on the incidence of H. armigera, and the identity, distribution and frequency of its common parasitoids and (potential) predators, sampled in the experimental plots. Trichogrammatoidea spp., egg parasitoids, and Linnaemya longirostris (Macquart), a tachinid late-larval parasitoid, were the most common parasitoid species, but total percentage parasitism was rather low. Of the large complex of predators, only anthocorids and ants (predominantly Pheidole spp., Myrmicaria spp. and Camponotus spp.) were sufficiently common and widespread to be of importance in suppressing H. armigera. The abundance of predators fluctuated widely between sites, but anthocorids were most abundant at the western sites.


Plant Disease ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 97 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. Elmhirst ◽  
B. E. Auxier ◽  
L. A. Wegener

Boxwoods (Buxus spp.) are common woody ornamental hedging plants in Europe and North America, typically propagated by cuttings. In October 2011, shoot dieback and defoliation was observed on Buxus sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’ (dwarf English boxwood) and ‘Green Balloon’ in outdoor, 10-cm pots at a wholesale nursery in Chilliwack, British Columbia. Circular leaf spots with black rings occurred on leaves and black, water-soaked, cankers girdled the stems and petioles. Leaf and stem samples were collected on November 21, 2011, and incubated for 48 h in a moist chamber at room temperature. In addition to Volutella buxi, a Cylindrocladium species producing conidia on white sporodochia was observed on host tissue under the microscope. Leaves with lesions were surface-sterilized in 10% bleach for 30 to 60 s, rinsed in sterile water, and lesions were cut out and plated on PDA and carnation leaf media. The species was identified as Cylindrocladium pseudonaviculatum Crous, J.Z. Groenew. & C.F. Hill 2002 by comparison of conidia and phialide morphology to published descriptions. Conidia were hyaline, one-septate, cylindrical with rounded ends and 38 to 76 μm (mean 51 μm) × 4 to 6 μm on carnation leaf media and 41 to 66 μm (mean 52 μm) × 4 to 6 μm on B. sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’ leaves, comparable to the reported range of 40 to 75 × 4 to 6 μm (1,2,3,4). Conidia were produced in clusters on terminal, ellipsoid vesicles at the tips of penicillate conidiophores. Vesicles were 10.2 (7.6 to 12.8 μm) at the widest point, consistent with the 6 to 11 μm reported in (2,3) and tapered to a rounded point; stipe extensions were septate and measured an average of 130 μm (107 to 163 μm) in length to the tip of the vesicle, consistent with the 95 to 155 μm reported in (1), 89 to 170 μm reported in (2), and 95 to 165 μm in (3). Chlamydospores were not observed on host tissue but appeared in older PDA cultures as dark brown microsclerotia. DNA was extracted from single-spore colonies on PDA and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA was amplified with primers ITS1 and ITS4. The ITS sequence (GenBank Accession No. KC291613) was 100% identical to C. buxicola strain CB-KR001 (HM749646.1) and Calonectria pseudonaviculata strain ATCC MYA-4891 (JX174050.1). In early December 2011, box blight was identified on container-grown B. sinica var. insularis × B. sempervirens ‘Green Velvet,’ ‘Green Gem’, and ‘Green Mountain’ and B. sempervirens L. (common or American boxwood). The pathogen was identified by microscopic examination at three wholesale nurseries in the eastern Fraser Valley and one landscape planting. The isolate has been deposited in the Canadian Collection of Fungal Cultures in Ottawa, Canada (DAOM 242242). References: (1) B. Henricot and A. Culham. Mycologia 94:980, 2002. (2) K. L. Ivors, et al. Plant Dis. 96:1070, 2012. (3) C. Pintos Varela, et al. Plant Dis. 93:670, 2009. (4) M. Saracchi, et al. J. Plant Pathol. 90:581, 2008.


1960 ◽  
Vol 92 (10) ◽  
pp. 759-761
Author(s):  
G. W. Wood ◽  
W. T. A. Neilson

It is perhaps because of their unimportance as insect pests that larvae of the genus Syngrapha have been so little studied. Syngrapha epigaea is no exception to this; but since it is one of the most common species of larvae found in commercial blueberry fields of eastern Canada, the following notes on its life-history and parasitism are here recorded.


2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (7) ◽  
pp. 444-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R.M. McFarlane

The Matthew Creek Metamorphic Zone (MCMZ) exposes what is inferred to be the lowest structural level of the lower Aldridge Formation in the Canadian portion of the Belt–Purcell Supergroup. Zircon, monazite, and titanite were dated using the U–Pb system by LA–ICP–MS. The detrital zircon populations of quartzite layers in these rocks define a provenance dominated by sources of Laurentian affinity with a minor component of non-North American ages between 1600 and 1490 Ma. Special attention was paid to monazite in sillimanite-grade metapelitic schists that was analyzed using in situ LA–ICP–MS techniques guided by BSE imaging and compositional mapping. Textural and geochronological evidence indicate that coupled dissolution–reprecipitation affected detrital monazite at 1413 ± 10 Ma. This was followed by prograde monazite growth at 1365 ± 10 Ma, synchronous with crystallization of the nearby Hellroaring Creek peraluminous granite at 1365 ± 5 Ma. Late-stage pegmatite emplacement and ductile shearing along the contact of the MCMZ and overlying rocks occurred at 1335 ± 5 Ma, interpreted as a period of post-collisional extension, core complex formation, exhumation, and decompression melting. The entire package was subsequently affected by a pervasive ∼1050 Ma hydrothermal overprint that partially reset U–Pb dates in monazite, zircon, and titanite contained in all lithologies examined. The lowermost Belt–Purcell stratigraphy in southeast British Columbia preserves a detailed record of sedimentary provenance and a long history of episodic collision and extension that must be reconciled with plate reconstruction models for the break-up of the Nuna supercontinent and assembly of Rodinia.


1959 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Glendenning

Coast moles were studied and trapped from 1935 to 1945 at Agassiz, British Columbia. They cause economic damage in the lower Fraser Valley by injuring growing crops and by covering up to 15 per cent of the surface of a field with their hills.The moles ate almost any arthropod, annelid, or molluscan that they captured, but earthworms comprised 93 per cent of the stomach contents. Adults ate nearly twice their weight in earthworms daily, or 100–150 grams, representing more than 100 worms. The populations of moles apparently varied in proportion to those of the earthworms.The moles mated from January to early March. The young were born in March or April. Yearling females had two embryos; 2-year-old females had three; and mature females had four. Of 940 trapped during the winters, 45 per cent were over 1, and 6 per cent were over 3 years old. The average weight of mature 74 males was 74.3 ± 5.6 grams; the average weight of 30 mature females was 69.8 ± 4.1 grams.Natural control was ineffective. The disastrous Fraser River flood of 1948 lowered the numbers significantly, but recovery was rapid.Artificial controls tested included: poisons, caustic irritants, explosives, flooding, earthworm poisons, combinations of chemical fertilizers and irrigations, mechanical and chemical barriers, commercial mole destroyers, poison gases, deterrents, and traps. Only the last two were of value; crude flake naphthalene was a deterrent, and the scissors type was the most effective trap. In heavy infestations as many as three moles per man-hour were trapped. Naphthalene was expensive but protected small plots for up to 6 weeks. For economic control by trapping an area of 300 to 500 acres should be trapped in one season. Smaller areas are quickly reinfested, since the moles travel up to 1 mile.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 6293-6315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans D. Osthoff ◽  
Charles A. Odame-Ankrah ◽  
Youssef M. Taha ◽  
Travis W. Tokarek ◽  
Corinne L. Schiller ◽  
...  

Abstract. The nocturnal nitrogen oxides, which include the nitrate radical (NO3), dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5), and its uptake product on chloride containing aerosol, nitryl chloride (ClNO2), can have profound impacts on the lifetime of NOx (= NO + NO2), radical budgets, and next-day photochemical ozone (O3) production, yet their abundances and chemistry are only sparsely constrained by ambient air measurements. Here, we present a measurement data set collected at a routine monitoring site near the Abbotsford International Airport (YXX) located approximately 30 km from the Pacific Ocean in the Lower Fraser Valley (LFV) on the west coast of British Columbia. Measurements were made from 20 July to 4 August 2012 and included mixing ratios of ClNO2, N2O5, NO, NO2, total odd nitrogen (NOy), O3, photolysis frequencies, and size distribution and composition of non-refractory submicron aerosol (PM1). At night, O3 was rapidly and often completely removed by dry deposition and by titration with NO of anthropogenic origin and unsaturated biogenic hydrocarbons in a shallow nocturnal inversion surface layer. The low nocturnal O3 mixing ratios and presence of strong chemical sinks for NO3 limited the extent of nocturnal nitrogen oxide chemistry at ground level. Consequently, mixing ratios of N2O5 and ClNO2 were low (< 30 and < 100 parts-per-trillion by volume (pptv) and median nocturnal peak values of 7.8 and 7.9 pptv, respectively). Mixing ratios of ClNO2 frequently peaked 1–2 h after sunrise rationalized by more efficient formation of ClNO2 in the nocturnal residual layer aloft than at the surface and the breakup of the nocturnal boundary layer structure in the morning. When quantifiable, production of ClNO2 from N2O5 was efficient and likely occurred predominantly on unquantified supermicron-sized or refractory sea-salt-derived aerosol. After sunrise, production of Cl radicals from photolysis of ClNO2 was negligible compared to production of OH from the reaction of O(1D) + H2O except for a short period after sunrise.


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