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News Release 8-4-2000 |
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BEETLES - NOT BLIGHT - RESPONSIBLE FOR BROWNING LOCUSTS! CHARLESTON, W.VA. — Agriculture Commissioner Gus R. Douglass wants to inform the residents of West Virginia that locust leafminer feeding activity is responsible for the brown locust trees they are seeing. "The damaged foliage is easy to spot and locust trees look like they are dying," said Douglass. "Feeding damage occurred earlier this year than it normally does." The locust leafminer, Odontota dorsalis, is one of the leaf-mining beetles, and is an annual problem on black locust. Adults have black heads and the inner edges of the wing covers are black, so it looks like there is a black stripe down the center of its back. The rest of the body is deep orange. Adults spend the winter in bark crevices or under leaf litter and emerge in the spring when leaves begin to expand. Adults skeletonize the lower leaf surface for a time before laying eggs. The immature larvae bore into the leaves and feed between the upper and lower leaf surfaces in cavities known as mines. On heavily infested trees, leaves damaged by adult and immature feeding start to bronze as early as mid-to-late July. By the end of summer, locust leafminer damage is easy to see, because trees look like they are dying or dead. "This year, the first generation caused severe feeding damage to locusts in numerous counties by the second and third weeks of June. This is unusual, because we normally don't see much damage until mid-to-late July when the second generation is present," said Sherri Hutchinson, Forest Entomologist for the West Virginia Department of Agriculture's (WVDA) Plant Industries Division. "Numerous individuals have called because they see brown foliage as they drive along State roads and are concerned that the entire forest is 'blighted'." Locust trees tend to grow in border-type areas, such as along roadways and edges of fields, making them easy to see. Locust leafminers are present every year to some degree. They are very host specific, meaning they don't feed on anything but locust trees. When the leafminer population gets numerous enough, predator and parasite populations build up and the leafminers are controlled for a period of time. Trees rarely die from locust leafminer feeding, unless it occurs during poor growing seasons and/or other damaging conditions are also present. Some mortality can be expected due to the drought of the last two years followed by early, heavy feeding this year. For more information, contact WVDA entomologists at 304/558-2212. |
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©2001, 2002 West Virginia Department of Agriculture, All Rights Reserved |
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