UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 843 & 



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Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology 

 L. O. HOWARD, Chief 



s^f-^-ru 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



June 7, 1920 



THE BEAN LADYBIRD. 



By F. H. Chittenden, Entomologist in Charge, and Ff. O. Marsh, Entomological 

 Assistant, Truck-Crop Insect Investigations. 



With a report on " The Bean Ladybird in Colorado, in 1919." 



By A. C. Malloey, Scientific Assistant. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 



Synonymy 



Description 



The adult____. 



The egg 



The larva 



The pupa 



Distribution 



Danger of future spread 



Life history and habits 



Seasonal history 



Reproduction and development- 



History and literature 



Unpublished records 



Natural control 



Effect of climatic conditions 



Natural enemies 



5 



5 



7 



7 



7 



10 



11 



13 



13 



14 



Page. 



Preventive measures 15 



Hand picking and brushing 15 



Clean cultural methods 15 



Early and late planting 15 



Direct measures of control 16 



Experiments with insecticides 16 



Cooperation j. ' 18 



Summary of control measures. _ 18 



General summary 18 



Literature cited 20 



The bean ladybird in Colorado in 



1919 21 



Life-history records 21 



Injury 22 



Control 23 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the semiarid region of the Southwest, where an immense acreage 

 of beans is grown annually, a destructive insect known as the bean 

 ladybird, bean beetle, "bean bug," and spotted bean beetle 1 does 

 great injury. Indeed, it is to the bean crop what the Colorado potato 

 beetle is to the potato, a pest of the highest importance in the region 

 which it inhabits. 



The beetle devours all parts of the bean plant— leaves, flowers, and 

 growing pods. Its main food supply, however, is the leaves, through 

 which it cuts irregular holes (PL I; III; IV, fig. 1). Its injuries, 



1 EpUaclma corrupta Muls. ; order Coleoptera, family Coccinellidae. 

 Note. — This insect was under the observation of the junior author (who died Sep- 

 tember 10, 1918), from 1914 to 1917. The life-history investigations were conducted in 

 an open-air insectary at Rocky Ford, Colo. ; and some field operations were conducted 

 also at Pueblo, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs, Colo., and at Maxwell and French, 

 N. Mex. 



152117° — 20— Bull. 843 1 



