SWEET-POTATO INSECTS. 209 



SWEET POTATO. 



{Ipomnea batatas Poir. Family Convolvulacese.) 



The sweet potato ia now grown in many parts of the world, and, while not often 

 shipped into the United States because of our own bountiful crops, there is always 

 likelihood of danger in shipment of tubers for propagation purposes. The only 

 enemies of the vine which are dangerous are those which attack the tubers. 



A. BETTER KNOWN SWEET-POTATO INSECTS LIKELY TO BE IMPORTED. 



Cylas brunneus Fabricius. 

 (Liberian Sweet-Potato Borer. Curculionoidea: Coleoptera.) 



Host: Sweet potato. 



Injury: Attacks tubers in a manner similar to C. formicarius. Liable to introduction 

 in the tubers. 



Description: A wingless elongate weevil with body constricted in front of elytra; 



unicolorous, brown, bronzy or black, of the same form as C . formicarius . 



Distribution: Liberia. 



H= Cylas formicarius Fabricius. 



(Sweet-Potato Weevil. Curculionoidea: Coleoptera.) 



Host: Sweet potato. 



Injury: Very serious pest of sweet-potato tubers. 



Description and biology: Adult an elongate weevil, ^^ith steel-blue elytra, reddish 

 prothorax and legs and darker head; about 0.33 inch in length. Pupa white, elongate 

 with all appendages folded underneath. Larva a white footless grub with dark-brown 

 head; bores in the tubers of the sweet potatoes and pupates in its burrows. It attacks 

 the tubers both in the field and in storage. 



Distribution: Nearly cosmopolitan; Florida to Texas, but not present in all sweet- 

 potato sections of the United States. 



Basu, S. K., and Dutt, H. L. Crop Pest Handbook for Behar and Orissa, 1913, 

 Calcutta, Leaflet 71, pi. 47. 



Euscepes batatse Waterhouse. (Cryptorhynclius.) 

 (West Indian Sweet-Potato Weevil. Curculionidse ; Coleoptera.) 



Host: Sweet potato. 



Injury: Bores in the tuber. Very easily distributed. This weevil is caught in 

 quarantine in almost every shipment of sweet potatoes from Hawaii to California but 

 has not yet become established. 



Description and biology: Weevil elliptical, brown, covered with flat scales and 

 bristling with stiff erect scales; beak short, concealed on breaat when at rest. Pupa 

 white, oval with two apical spines. Larva curved, white, legless \vith chitinous head. 



Distribution: West Indies (Barbados, Antigua), Hawaii. 



FuLLAWAY, D. T. Hawaii Agr. Exp. Sta., 1911, Bui. 22, pp. 27-29, fig. 9. 

 Whitney, L. A. Monthly Bulletin California St. Comm. Horticulture, 1915, vol. 4,, 

 pp. 162-164, figs. 24-28. 



Omphlsa anastomosalis Guenee. 



(Sweet- Potato Stem Borer. Pyralidse; Lepidoptera.) 



Host: Sweet potato, other garden crops. 



Injury: Bores in the stem and sometimes into the tuber, in which case it can easily 

 be disseminated. 



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