BIOLOGY OF THE FALSE WIREWORM ELEODES 
SUTURALIS 1 SAY 2 
By J. S. WadE, 3 Entomologist, Cereal and Forage Insect Investigations, and R. A. 
St. George, Assistant Entomologist, Forest Insect Investigations, Bureau of Ento¬ 
mology, United States Department of Agriculture 
INTRODUCTION 
The false wireworm Eleodes suturcdis Say is now a serious menace to 
the production of wheat and other small grains in both irrigated and 
nonirrigated districts in some of the more recently settled, semiarid 
regions of the Middle West. It is an impressive illustration of a truth 
repeatedly emphasized by the late Prof. F. M. Webster {33, p . 72) 4 , 
namely, that insects formerly supposed to be of little or no economic 
importance have frequently— 
come suddenly into prominence and become immensely destructive to crops. 
Its principal damage is caused in the fall by the larvae feeding upon 
the recently sown wheat grain and its sprouts, thus retarding or prevent¬ 
ing the formation and growth of the young plant. It also injures or 
destroys growing wheat in the spring. 
The comparatively recent development of Eleodes suturcdis as a pest 
is due largely to artificial change in its environment and food plants. 
Large areas formerly devoted to grazing have been brought under culti¬ 
vation, and this has diminished or almost eliminated a number of the 
native food plants and has caused the insect to attack some of the crops 
now grown in their place. This change of food plants and possibly 
better facilities for hibernation in the cultivated fields have resulted in a 
steady increase in abundance of the pest. 
Although, owing to the partial control effected by meteorological 
conditions and parasites in each infested locality, the more destructive 
outbreaks of this false wireworm have occurred only at irregular inter¬ 
vals, yet the activities of the pest have been reported with increasing 
frequency each ye^r since 1910 in wddely separated districts within its 
range, indicating that the species is likely to become increasingly inju¬ 
rious in future years. 
The territory under discussion comprises more especially the semiarid 
sections of western Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, 
Nebraska, and the Dakotas, west of the ninety-seventh meridian, and 
the life-history notes are based upon studies made in the years from 1914 
to 1917, inclusive, in the latitude of southern Kansas, the deductions 
therefrom being based upon behavior of the specimens under observation. 
HISTORY 
This insect belongs to the extensive coleopterous family Tenebrionidae, 
and to a group popularly known by the expressive term of “stink- 
1 Order Coleoptera, family Tenebrionidae. 
* Accepted for publication, Nov. i, 1923. 
3 The writer wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the late Prof. P. M. Webster, and to W. R. Wal¬ 
ton, E. G. Kelly, and Dr. E. A. Schwarz, all of the Bureau of Entomology, for helpful advice and for 
much valuable information. 
4 Reference is made by number (italic) to “ Literature cited, ” p. 565-566. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
ail 
( 547 ) 
Vol. XXXVI, No. 11 
Dec. 15, 1923 
Key No. K-120 
