LARVAL CHARACTERS AND DISTRIBUTION OF TWO 

 SPECIES OF DIATRAEA 



By T. E. Hollow ay, 1 



Entomological Assistant, Southern Field Crop Insect Investigations, 

 Bureau of Entomology 



In May, 191 1, Dyar 2 published an article differentiating the American 

 species of Diatraea. The species D. saccharalis, commonly known as 

 the sugar-cane moth borer and also as the larger corn stalk borer, which 

 had been recorded in the literature as infesting corn and sugar cane 

 throughout the Southern States, was divided into D. saccharalis cram- 

 bidoides Fabricius and D. zeacolella Dyar. This paper came as a sur- 

 prise to entomologists; and while in it Dyar scarcely mentions food plants 

 it was assumed that D. zeacolella was supposed to infest corn (Zea mays) 

 and not sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum), while D. saccharalis cram- 

 bidoides was supposed to breed in sugar cane. The foundation for this 

 belief, aside from the use of the term "zeacolella" for one of the forms, 

 is evidently a statement made by Dyar before the Entomological Society 

 of Washington in 191 1, 3 which is noted in the Proceedings as follows: 



Dr. Dyar spoke of the troublesome genus Diatraea and announced his success in 

 separating as two distinct species the forms feeding on corn and sugar cane in the 

 United States in characters of both the larvae and the adults. 



After the publication of Dyar's article, series of specimens were 

 reared from corn and sugar cane at the laboratory of Sugar-Cane Insect 

 Investigations at Audubon Park, New Orleans, La., and these were 

 found by Mr. U. C. Loftin to interbreed. Specimens from both sugar 

 cane and corn were determined by Dr. Dyar as D. saccharalis crambi- 

 doides. 



Within the last two or three years, in the field investigations of sugar- 

 cane insects, D. saccharalis crambidoides has been found to be lim- 

 ited to the southern half of Louisiana, including the southwestern 

 corner of Mississippi around Woodville, to the southern half of Florida, 

 and to the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. There was no doubt, 

 however, about the correctness of the records of species of Diatraea from 

 Virginia and the Carolinas, and the writer was at a loss to explain the 

 divergence between his records and the statements in economic literature 



1 The writer gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Mr. August Busck and Rev. J. J. De Gryse, who 

 very kindly criticized the drawings and descriptions and helped in many ways. 



2 Dyar, H. G. The American species of Diatraea Guilding (Lepid., Pyralidae). In Ent. News, v. 22, 

 no. 5, p. 199-206. 1911. 



Proc. lint. Soc. Wash., v. 13, no. 2, p. 87. 1911. 



Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. VI, No. 16 



Dept. 1 : Agriculture, Washington, D. C July 17, 1916 



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