WHITE- FRINGED BEETLES 
( Graphognathus spp.) 
Life History and Distribution 
White-fringed beetle grubs live in the soil and feed on the roots of many 
kinds of plants, including beans, cotton, corn, peanuts, potatoes, various weeds, 
and ornamentals. They feed most heavily in the spring when nearly full grown 
and have ruined many acres of crops. 
These insects pass the winter as grubs, or larvae. In the spring or early 
summer most of the grubs change to adults in little cells which they form in 
the soil. The grubs are white, legless, and about V 2 inch long when full grown. 
The adult beetles are about /& inch long. The adults normally emerge from 
the soil during the summer, and all of them are wingless females. They lay 
their eggs in small masses, usually attached to plant stems, sticks, or pebbles 
at or just below the soil surface. A single beetle may live 2 or 3 months and 
lay 600 to 700 eggs. The eggs hatch in about 2 weeks in warm, moist weather, 
and the grubs immediately enter the soil, where they remain until full grown. 
There is usually one generation a year. 
There are three species and several races of white-fringed beetles, all of 
which are similar in appearance and habits. The beetle illustrated is 
Graphognathus leucoloma striatus (Buch.). 
In 1948, 248,000 acres of land were known to be infested with the beetles. 
They are found in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. 
Control 
The Department of Agriculture is cooperating with State agencies in the 
control of these beetles and in the maintenance of quarantines to prevent their 
spread. The following measures are used in control: 
Control of larvae by soil treatment. — Apply 10 pounds of DDT per acre 
uniformly to the soil surface as a dust (example, 200 pounds of a 5-percent 
DDT dust) by hand or with a mechanical distributor, or apply as a spray. 
Disk or cultivate immediately into the top 3 inches of soil. 
Control of adults by foliage applications. — Spray yards, vacant lots, idle 
fields, shrubs, flowers, or other plants not used as food for man or animals 
with V 2 to 1 pound of DDT per acre in a water suspension or an emulsion. 
Apply the spray every 10 to 15 days throughout the beetle season. For a 
suspension spray use 2 pounds of a wettable powder containing 50 percent of 
DDT in 100 gallons of water, or, for small quantities, % ounce of this powder 
in 1 gallon of water. DDT emulsions have greater residual value than sus- 
pensions. Ready-prepared emulsions are obtainable and should be used 
according to directions on the container. 
In gardens, pastures, or on crops to be used as food, apply 8 to 10 pounds 
of cryolite in 100 gallons of water per acre at intervals of 7 to 10 days 
throughout the season. 
Control by cultural practices. — Legume crops are favored by white-fringed 
beetles. Keep infestations low by the following practices: 
1. Plant oats or other small grains in heavily infested fields. 
2. Do not plant more than one-fourth of the cropland in annual legumes 
each year, and do not plant the same land to these crops more than 
once in 3 or 4 years. 
3. Do not intercrop corn with peanuts, soybeans, crotalaria, or velvet- 
beans, and, insofar as possible, practice clean cultivation. 
4. Fertilize corn or cotton heavily with commercial fertilizer or by turn- 
ing under a winter cover crop. 
CAUTION. — Insecticides are poisonous and should be handled with care. 
Store in a dry place where children and animals will not have access to them. 
July 1949 U. S. Government Printing Office 
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D. C. Price 5 cents 
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1949 838836 
