LIBRARY 
TATE PLANl BOARD 
E-464 February 1939 
United States Department of Agriculture 
Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine 
BIOLOGY OF THE WHITE-FRINGED BEETLE (NAUPACTUS LEUCOLOMA BOH.)^ 
By H. C. Young and B. A. App, 2 
Division of Cereal and Forage Insect Investigations 
Introduction 
The first report of the appearance of the white-fringed beetle in 
the United States was made by the Division of Insect Identification in the 
Bureau News Letter dated September 1, 1936, when it was reported that L. L. 
Buchanan had identified as Naupactus leucoloma Boh. two specimens received 
from A. N. Tissot, of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. These 
beetles came from the area around Svea, Okaloosa County, Fla., and at that 
time were reported to be injuring peanuts. In the October 1, 1936, issue 
of the Insect Pest Survey Bulletin J. R. Watson reported that this insect 
had appeared during the summer in the northern part of Walton County in 
western Florida, and in adjacent areas in Alabama, where it was causing 
much damage to peanuts and some injury to cotton and other plants. 
J. R. Watson, of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, and 
U. C. Loftin, of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, made a 
brief survey of the infested area in Walton and Okaloosa Counties, Fla., 
on May 14, 1937, and an account of their observations is given in the 
Bureau News Letter dated June 1, 1937. At that time the larvae were reported 
attacking cotton, corn, peanuts, and velvetbeans. 
This insect is native in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, in South 
America, and has recently been discovered in New South Wales, Australia 
1 Order Coleoptera, family Curculionidae, subfamily Otiorhynchinae, 
tribe Epicaerini. 
This circular supersedes mimeographed circular E-420, The White- 
fringed Beetle, Naupactus leucoloma Boh., which was issued in January 1938. 
2 The writers acknowledge their indebtedness to G. D. Green, H. S. 
Hollingsworth, and H. T. Vanderford, who have assisted in the investiga- 
tions of "the white-fringed beetle; to J. B., Gill for the data pertaining to 
Naupa ctus, n. sp.; to* E. G. Hume of the State Plant Board of Florida for much 
of the information pertaining to host plants; to L. J. Padgett, Division of 
Domestic Plant Quarantines, for information as to the present known distribu- 
tion; and to Mary F. Benson, Division of Insect Identification, for the 
drawings used in figure 1 , 
^^7 1939 
