THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



433 



THE WAVY STRIPED FLEA-BEETLE 



{Phyllotreta sinuata Steph.) 



BY E. MELVILLE DUPORTE, MACDONALD COLLEGE, QUE. 



The fact that this insect has not before been reported as a 

 pest in Canada serves as an excuse for the publication of a short 

 note concerning it. 



Phyllotreta sinuata is an introduced species and is generally 

 distributed throughout England and the continent of Europe. 

 Horn in 1889 describes it as occurring in America from the New 

 England States to Georgia and westward to Missouri. Sanderson 

 states that in the Middle States the larvae mine in the leaves of 

 wild pepper grass (Lepidium virginicum) and Professor Blatchley 



informs me that it is a very common species 

 throughout Indiana. 



My attention was first drawn to the in- 

 sect in June. 1913, when the larvae were ob- 

 served mining in the leaves of cress and feed- 

 ing on the foliage of radish. The adults were 

 obtained by rearing these larvae and were also 

 collected in the field. The cress was practically 

 destroyed by the beetle and its larvae. 



The insect is again present at Macdonald 

 College this season feeding on radish, turnips 

 and cabbage. It is often associated with the 

 turnip flea-beetle {Phyllotreta vittata Fab.) and 

 it is probably owing to its close resemblance 

 to this species that it has escaped detection, 

 for recently, in examining a collection of P. 

 vittata which was made in 1912, I found sev- 

 eral specimens of P. sinuata which I had not 

 noticed at the time they were collected. 



The larva of P. sinuata is a small cruci- 

 form grub, about 4 mm. long. The head and 

 pronotum are dark brown, the latter being crossed 

 by a light-coloured median line. The second and 

 third thoracic segments as well as the first eight abdominal seg- 

 ments bear several brown setigerous tubercules of various sizes. 

 The last abdominal segment is deep brown or black and fringed 



December, 1914 



Fig. 30— Phyllotreta 

 sinuata Steph., larva. 



