Social disease
BELTSVILLE, Md. r A
“social disease” is being
tested by USDA scientists
here as a biological weapon
for controlling the Mexicans
bean beetle.
The social disease is ac
tually a parasitic mite that
hves on the beetle’s body.
One hundred tunes smaller
than the beetle, the mite
feeds on the undersides of its
host’s wings, and waits for
an opportunity to crawl onto
another beetle That chance
arrives when the beetles
mate.
If current experiments at
USDA’s Beneficial Insect
Introduction Laboratory
show that the mite can help
control Mexican bean
beetles in the U.S., scientists
will already have an ex
cellent dispersal system for
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swore SYSTEMS
the new bio-control--the
beetles themselves.
The Mexican bean beetle
is the worst insect pest of
bean crops in the U.S. In
1974, farmers in Mid-
Atlantic states spent over $5
an acres on insecticides
aimed at the pest.
The parasitic mite does
not occur naturally m this
country. It was imported for
quarantine study from
Central America where
USDA entomologist Floyd
Smith observed that “in
fields where the beetles were
not destructive, close to one
hundred percent of the bean
beetles were infested jvith
the mites.”*
USDA tests show the mite
does not infect beneficial
insects.
At the lab this spring, the
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may control Mexican bean beetle
mite passed a critical test,
by overwintering. Smith and
entomologist Robert F.
Schroder infested beetles
with mitees last fall and
placed them in special field
cages. Up to 75 percent of the
beetles still had mites in the
sprmg.
Now Smith and Schroder
will find out if the parasitic
mite can join the parasitic
wasp in fighting bean
beetles- yes, the parasitic
wasp.
In 1973, USDA scientists
imported a non-stinging
wasp—another natural
enemy of the beetle-from
India. After research done
by Umversity of Maryland
scientists, the wasp was
unleashed.
It has done well, greatly
reducing the need for
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spraying insecticides on
bean beetles m many areas
of Eastern states. But, the
wasp does not survive
winter.
Each spring, state
agriculture departments in
Maryland, Delaware, New
Jersey, South Carolina and
Virginia must redistribute
the tiny beetle fighters. (In
north and central Florida,
and southern Georgia and
Alabama, researchers
predict that the wasp will
have to be released every
two or three years.)
The wasps lay their eggs m
the larvae of the bean
beetles and young wasps
simple eat their way out,
killing the larvae.
However, °ven with
redistributions, Smith says,
“you can’t expect to have
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enough wasps in the field
when the beetles emergy
from hiberation. By the tune
the wasps mcrese their
numbers sufficiently, the
beetles have a head start.”
Unlike the wasp-larvae
relationship, the mite-beetle
system is self-perpetuating.
The mites stay with the
beetles through the winter
and bio-control begins when
spring’s warmth wakes up
the beetles. The mites suck
the lifeblood of the beetles,
reducing their vitality and
ability to lay eggs.
The pai asites are part of a
growing arsenal of non
chemical methods form the
USDA laboratory for con
trolling the Mexican bean
beetle. USDA entomologists
and plant breeders may soon
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realese soybean varieties
that are resistant to the
beetles, as well as to other
soybean pests.
And, m a project just
getting underway, scientists
are looking at certain
viruses that cause insect
diseases, as possible bio
control agents against the
beetles.
With man interfering with
the beetle’s sex life, diet and
general health, one would
think the critters would
leave us our hmas, snaps,
and soybeans, and go
elsewhere. At least, say
USDA officials, the new
control weapons should be
safer and cheaper to use and
that the Mexican bean beetle
probably will become less of
a nuisance to farmers.
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