JOURNAL 



OF 



ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 



OFFICIAL ORGAN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGISTS 



Vol. 8 AUGUST, 1915 No. 4 



NOTES ON THREE SPECIES OF HELIOPHILA WHICH INJURE 

 CEREAL AND FORAGE CROPS AT BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS 



By R. A. ViCKERT, Entomological Assistant, Cereal and Forage Insect Investigations, 

 Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



The larvae of Heliophila subpundata Haw., H. unipuncta Haw., 

 and H. multilinea Walk., have all been found injuring cereal and forage 

 crops in southern Texas. Heliophila subpunctata is found on corn, 

 sorghum, sugar-cane, barley, oats and Bermuda grass, but prefers 

 sorghum and sugar-cane. Heliophila unipuncta is found on the same 

 plants as H. subpunctata and also on alfalfa but prefers low-growing 

 plants such as alfalfa, barley and oats. Heliophila multilinea has the 

 same habits as H. subpunctata and has been found so far on sorghum 

 and sugar-cane. The larva of this species looks like that of H. sub- 

 punctata and we have not been able to separate them; but only a few 

 of this species have been found. 



These species are found in large numbers from November until 

 March and are rare in the summer. H. unipuncta has not been 

 found in the summer. 



The jaws of these larvae are not toothed but are smooth and come 

 together like the edges of a ''cutting pincer" and cut in the same 

 manner as the pincer cuts. The jaws have this shape in all stages 

 of the larva and for this reason the larvse feed at the edge of the leaf 

 in all stages. In the first two stages they are not able to bite through 

 a leaf but they begin work on the edge. In feeding they straddle 

 the edge and seizing the leaf in their jaws bite a piece out of it and 

 usually continue feeding until a large notch is eaten out. 



This manner of feeding compels the larvae to expose themselves in 

 order to feed. This is probably why they feed only at night and hide 

 during the day. It is possible that this habit exposes them only to 

 the attacks of nocturnal parasites as they are so well hidden during 

 the day that it would seem to be almost impossible for the parasites 



