4 CIRCULAR 418, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



HYMEN OPT ERA 



Synaldis sp., of the hymenopterous family Alysiidae, is recorded in 

 the files of the late F. H. Chittenden as having been reared from 

 Epilachna corrupt a {= E. varivestis) . 



The ants Solenopsis geminata and Pheidole sp. destroyed bean 

 beetle pupae in cages both in the field and in the insectary at Birming- 

 ham, Ala., in 1921 (10, 12). Merrill (U) states that "Dr. Morrill, of 

 Arizona, reports 'an ant observed eating the eggs on one occasion'." 

 The junior author observed numbers of a small black ant feeding on 

 mature larvae and pupae of the bean beetle at Louisville, Ky., in 1932. 



DIPTERA 



Phorocera claripennis, a tachinid parasite of Lepicloptera (fig. 1, 

 A ) , is the only native parasite of wide distribution which attacks the 

 bean beetle. It was reared from bean beetle larvae first in 1922 in 

 northern Alabama (11), and since then has been reared from larvae 

 collected in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, New 

 Jersey, and North Carolina. 



In Ohio it has been found that the first collections that can be made 

 of mature fourth-instar bean beetle larvae each season contain ap- 

 proximately 3 percent of parasitized larvae. The percentage of para- 

 sitization gradually decreases during the summer, although there is a 

 trace of parasitization until the end of the season. In 1935 a collection 

 of 600 larvae made July 8 contained 1.5 percent of parasitized larvae, 

 and 3,000 larvae collected August 27 contained 1.3 percent of parasi- 

 tized larvae. 



At Birmingham, Ala., Phorocera claripennis was collected in bean 

 beetle larvae from June 2 through September 1 in 1922. Here, as else- 

 where, it was observed that the parasitization was higher among 

 larvae feeding on soybeans in blossom than among larvae feeding on 

 garden beans. 



Phorocera claripennis deposits from one to three or four small, 

 white, elliptical, flattened, macrotype eggs on larval, pupal, or adult 

 bean beetles (fig 1, B). Areas around the wounds in the hosts, made 

 by maggots on entering, sink and become black. Two days before the 

 maggot leaves the host the latter appears lifeless and is of a muddy 

 yellow color. Much of the host is left unabsorbed as the mature mag- 

 got cuts an irregularly shaped hole and leaves the host to enter the 

 soil. The mature thircl-instar maggot is stout and subcylindrical, and 

 with the caudal end flattened in a dor sally oblique plane. The two 

 chitinous anal stigmata! plates are dark and conspicuous. Only one 

 maggot develops in a bean beetle larva. Maggots from eggs laid on 

 adult beetles fail to mature. J. E. Douglass found the incubation 

 period at Birmingham, Ala., to last from 1 to 3 days, the average for 

 37 eggs being 1.8 days. The average length of the developmental 

 period for 14 maggots was 7.4 days. Pupation usually occurs in the 

 soil, although it has been observed occasionally in the host shell. The 

 puparia are dull, yellowish red, and between 4 and 5 mm in length. 

 The average length of the developmental period for 11 puparia was 

 9.6 days. 



A tachinid, Nemoritfa maculosa, has been reared from bean beetle 

 larvae collected near Albuquerque, N. Mex. (4). In correspondence 



