Effect of Time of Seeding Apex Wheat on Infestation and Sex Ratio of the Wheat Stem Sawfly, Cephus cinctus Nort. (Hymenoptera: Cephidae)

1952 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 90-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. Jacobson ◽  
C. W. Farstad

In 1945 a field experiment was designed at the Lethbridge laboratory to augment data on the effect of the time of seeding on infestation by the wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Nort. At that time one of the recommendations for the control of this insect was to delay seeding wheat until after May 15. The resulting crop escaped infestation because of the retarded plant during the period of the sawfly flight.

1963 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 1217-1222 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. D. Holmes ◽  
L. K. Peterson

The sex ratio of the wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Nort., was affected by date of seeding, variety, and distance from source of infestation but not by diameter of host stem. The results suggest that the sex ratio of the progeny depends on the proportion of adults that are males and hence on the amount of fertilization of the eggs at the time of oviposition; increased percentages of male adults increase percentages of female progeny. Most adults at the beginning of the flight period are males whereas, at the end, most are Females. Most progeny from the earliest-seeded plants, which are infested first, were females, whereas most from the latest-seeded, which are infested last, were males. Red Bobs wheat develops more rapidly than Thatcher and is infested earlier; more female progeny emerged from Red Bobs than from Thatcher. The percentages of female progeny were highest from the margins of the fields evidently because most male adults remained there.The sex ratios of sawflies from different dates of seeding of the resistant wheat Rescue were not consistent with those from the susceptible wheats. The inconsistencies were evidently caused by differences in survival of the individuals in different locations in the resistant stems. In susceptible wheats the first-laid were most likely to survive, whereas in resistant wheats location rather than time of oviposition determined survival.


Author(s):  
Darren M Cockrell ◽  
Terri Randolph ◽  
Erika Peirce ◽  
Frank B Peairs

Abstract From 2012 through 2020, a survey of wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Norton, was conducted in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) fields in Eastern Colorado. In 2013, results showed sawfly infestations concentrated in the northern part of the state with only a few highly infested sites, with 38 of the 94 sampled sites having any infestation (five of which had >50% infestation levels). By 2020 sawfly had been found in all eastern counties sampled, and 72 of the 106 sites sampled were found to contain sawfly (11 of which had >50% infestation levels). The spread of this pest across the Colorado wheat-growing region will have lasting economic effects. The information gathered from this and future surveys will inform wheat variety development and aid in management decisions made by growers across the state.


1960 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. A. Roberts

Quantitative data obtained in field experiments showed that the resistance of wheat to attack by the wheat stem sawfly (Cephus cinctus Nort.) depended on the stage of development of the plants at the time of oviposition. Wheat plants were usually most heavily infested for a part or all of the period from 1 week before shot blade to 1 week after the flowering stage. Rescue, H46146, H4191, Golden Ball, and Melanopus lost their resistance to the development of the eggs and first-instar larvae some time between shot blade and flowering. Thatcher and Red Bobs did not show this type of resistance. The mortality of the older larvae increased in plants infested toward maturity. The time at which this increase began depended on the variety involved and ranged from just before shot blade to just after flowering.


1961 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Salt

Extracellular freezing of larvae of the wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Nort., was produced at −2.5 °C by a new method. Slow further cooling to −10, −15, or −20 °C added to extracellular ice with no intracellular freezing. Other larvae that were supercooled to and frozen at −10, −15, or −20 °C froze intracellularly. Comparisons of the effects of these two types of freezing were therefore possible at equivalent temperatures. Level of activity after freezing was used as the criterion of injury.Intracellular freezing was more injurious than extracellular freezing at −15 and −20 °C, but not at −10 °C. Injuries, as well as differences in injury due to type of freezing, decreased gradually to insignificance above −10 °C. Although larvae frozen extracellularly held an initial advantage over those frozen intracellularly, survivors of the latter group retained their vitality better, probably because they lost weight more slowly.Differences in injury and in activity level after freezing at −15 and −20 °C were insufficient to justify the use of freezing site (intracellular or extracellular) as a principal basis for explaining freezing injury. The same conclusion applies to ice crystal size and configuration, which differed vastly in the two types of freezing.These conclusions depend on whether freezing was actually intracellular or extracellular as represented. Strong evidence is presented that freezing was in fact as specified.


2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1579-1592 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. A. Cárcamo ◽  
B. L. Beres ◽  
F. Clarke ◽  
R. J. Byers ◽  
H.-h. Mündel ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. L. Beres ◽  
H. A. Cárcamo ◽  
J. R. Byers ◽  
F. R. Clarke ◽  
C. J. Pozniak ◽  
...  

Beres, B. L., Cárcamo, H. A., Byers, J. R., Clarke, F. R., Pozniak, C. J., Basu, S. K. and DePauw, R. M. 2013. Host plant interactions between wheat germplasm source and wheat stem sawfly Cephus cinctus Norton (Hymenoptera: Cephidae) I. Commercial cultivars. Can. J. Plant Sci. 93: 607–617. The wheat stem sawfly (WSS) Cephus cinctus Norton (Hymenoptera: Cephidae) is an economically destructive insect pest of wheat in the northern Great Plains. A significant resurgence of the insect pest in the southern prairies of Canada caused substantial economic losses from 1999 through 2007. Solid-stem cultivar selection is critical to the management of WSS but adoption of the use of these cultivars was low, which compounded losses at harvest. A study was conducted from 2001 to 2003 in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada (1) to establish the range of susceptibility of hollow- and solid-stem varieties representing the major spring wheat classes and (2) to determine the impact of host plant on WSS population dynamics. The solid-stem varieties were generally superior at reducing damage and fitness response of WSS. However, in addition to the durum cultivars AC Navigator and AC Avonlea, the variety McKenzie, which was considered hollow, provided improved efficacy over other hollow-stem cultivars. Our study suggests solid-stem cultivars are highly effective but prone to inconsistent performance and should therefore be integrated into a holistic strategy for WSS that includes agronomics and biocontrol. A companion paper will report on the response of cultivars with novel sources of germplasm.


1955 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Rowlatt Mackay

A chromosome complement of 18 was established for the female of Cephus cinctus Nort. by counts of 18 elements at oogonial metaphase and nine bivalents at pachytene. The male has a haploid set of nine chromosomes on the basis of counts at spermatogonial metaphase and at meiotic metaphases I and II. Male haploidy was confirmed by the fact that the male karyotype comprises one member of each morphologically identifiable pair present in the female. Spermatogenesis is characterized by lack of synapsis and complete abortion of the first meiotic division. Formation of a monopolar spindle at first meiotic metaphase is discussed. A cytological comparison of thelyotokous and arrhenotokous strains of C. cinctus failed to reveal any difference in chromosome number or in chromosome morphology. Cephus cinctus reproduces largely by arrhenotoky, the population normally being bisexual; the males develop from unfertilized eggs, most of the females arising from fertilized eggs; azygous, or impaternate, females occur sporadically. From the bisexual population a thelyotokous strain has arisen that is not distinguishable by cytological comparison; the females of both arrhenotokous and thelyotokous races are diploid; no diploid males were found. The haplo-diploid relationship of male to female was confirmed; male haploidy has become established by adaptive modifications in meiosis, as indicated in the cytological details given.


2005 ◽  
Vol 137 (5) ◽  
pp. 602-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Nansen ◽  
Mark E. Payton ◽  
Justin B. Runyon ◽  
David K. Weaver ◽  
Wendell L. Morrill ◽  
...  

AbstractThe wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Norton, is the most important insect pest of dryland wheat, reducing both harvest efficiency and head weight. When wheat lodged (flattened) by C. cinctus is straight-cut, harvest efficiency is affected in three ways: (1) lodged stems are difficult to collect with the combine, so mature wheat is lost; (2) the combine has to operate more slowly to collect as many of the lodged stems as possible; and (3) there is increased risk of damage to the combine due to lowering of the combine header to recover lodged stems. An alternative harvest method is to swath the wheat before lodging occurs and place it in windrows prior to combining. When swathing is used, harvest efficiency is not affected by the C. cinctus infestation level; however, this type of harvesting is more expensive and labor-intensive than straight- cutting. Thus, swathing should be used only when the crop is heavily infested by C. cinctus, while straight-cutting should be used when the level of C. cinctus infestation is lower. Adapting harvesting practices to the C. cinctus infestation level requires a sampling plan that can reliably and cost-effectively predict the infestation level in a given field. In this study, we (i) evaluate the relationship between sampling effort along field edges and precision of the estimated average infestation level in 6 wheat fields, and (ii) generate a Gaussian regression analysis of the infestation level up to 200 m into 18 wheat fields using two variables, distance from the edge and average infestation level at the edge, as explanatory variables. We conclude that little additional precision for estimates of infestation level is gained by collecting more than 10 samples along field edges. We also conclude that the average C. cinctus infestation level along field edges can be used successfully to predict infestation levels up to 200 m into winter wheat fields. The proposed sampling should be implemented about one month before harvest to provide growers with enough time to make logistical preparations for harvest.


1953 ◽  
Vol 85 (7) ◽  
pp. 249-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. A. Nelson

The biology of Bracon cephi (Gah.) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) was described recently (Nelson and Farstad, 1953). During studies from the Field Crop Insect Laboratory, Lethbridge, on the biology of this important parasit, observations were made on various other hymenopterous parasites associated with the wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Nort. The parasites discussed herein are Eupelmella vesicularis (Retz.) (Eupelmidae), Eurytoma atripes Gah. (Eurytomidae), and Merisus febriculosus Gir. (Pteromalidae). These three parasites have been noted by Gahan (1933) as parasites of the hessian fly, Phytophaga destructor (Say).


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