SB
818
C578
ENT

No. 28, SECOND SERIES.

_aited States Department of Agriculture,

DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY.

THE BOX-ELDER PLANT-BUG.

(Leptocoris trivittatus Say.)
GENERAL APPEARANCE AND METHOD OF WORK.

This is a plant-bug of the shape indicated in the figure, which, when
full-grown, is nearly half an inch in length and of a dark gray color
marked with red. In its
sarlier stages the red pre-
dominates, that being the
color of the exposed body.
It breeds frequently in enor-
mous numbers upon the
box-elder (Negundo negun-
do), becoming more numer-
ous in the autumn than at
other seasons. The bugs
congregate in groups upon
the trunks of these trees,
and migrate in search of
hibernating quarters to
fences and the sides of
houses, frequently entering
houses and other buildings

and stowing themselves Fig. 1.—Leptororis trivittatus: a, eggs enlarged, natural

0 ° Q size above; b,c, d, different stages of immature bugs; e,
away for the winter in pro- adult—all enlarged, natural sizes indicated by hair lines.

r (All after Marlatt, except e, which is original.)
tected places. They suck
the juices of the leaves and more tender growth of the box-elder tree,
and have been reported as damaging fruit, such as peaches, plums,
and apples.
DISTRIBUTION.

In 1880 the insect was known from Colorado, Arizona, California,
Kansas, Missouri, Utah, and Mexico. Professor Popenoe, writing in
1880, recorded its abundance upon box-elder at Manhattan, Kans.
Dr. Lintner, in 1887, showed that it had not been recorded west of the
Mississippi River or north of Missouri. In 1881, however, it had been
received at this office from Sioux City, lowa, from Mr. D. H. Talbot,
who, writing under date of November 2, 1881, stated that it was very
numerous that autumn and that many specimens were caught in his

2

office and on the outside of the building, where they were crawling
around on the brick walls. In 1885 specimens were received from
Ranch, Utah, with an account of damage to apples. As early as 1889
they were received from different parts of Nebraska; in 1891 from the
State of Washington, and later from different parts of these States, and
from Dickinson, Tex., Idaho, North and South Dakota, various localities
in Iowa, Luverne and Tracy, Minn., Madison, Wis., and Erie, Ill. In
1894 living specimens were received from two Pennsylvania localities,
the one from Libonia, where, in December, they were reported as dam-
aging hothouse plants, and the other in August from Kennett Square,
where they were found on squashes. These are the only two far eastern
occurrences known. Assuming that the box-elder tree is the normal
food of the species, it seems likely that the insect will gradually gain the
widespread distribution of this tree, and, as when very numerous its
capacity for damage to ripening fruit has been shown, it may eventu-
ally become a species of considerable economic importance. The
insect has been written up by Professor Popenoe in Volume II of the
“American Entomologist’; by Dr. Lintner in his Fourth and Tenth
Annual Reports as State Entomologist of New York; by Dr. Lugger in
Bulletin No. 43 of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station; by
Prof. C. V. Piper in Bulletin No. 17 of the Washington Agricultural
Experiment Station, and numerous items about it have been published
in the seven volumes of Insect Life.

NATURAL HISTORY AND HABITS.

During the winter the adult insect hibernates in all sorts of sheltered
localities. It is especially abundant in fences, crevices of stone walls,
and in the angles of stone buildings, on the south side of which they
are reported to appear singly and in clusters upon every warm day dur-
ing the season. When spring opens and the buds of the box-elder begin
to burst they scatter from their hibernating places and seek their food
plant. The eggs are laid normally in the crevices of the bark of the
food plant, but the instinct of the mother-bug is by no means true,
since she will oviposit in almost any situation, frequently even laying
eggs in her hibernating quarters. Few of the young hatching from such
eggs will ever reach a suitable tree. In Kansas the first adults begin
to appear after midsummer and at this time bugs of all sizes begin to
congregate in lines up and down the trunks and branches of the trees.
According to Professor Popenoe they may frequently be seen crowding -
ina broad line extending from the ground up to the secondary branches,
in a company including larve of all sizes, pupz, and fully matured
individuals. When the leaves drop, practically all are full grown and
they fly away in search of winter quarters. They feed upon a number
of different plants, preferring however, the boxelder. When they fly

(SG)

into greenhouses they occasionally damage the growing plants in the
winter time. They are most frequently sent to economic entomologists
with accounts of their fall congregating and also with tales of congre-
gating in houses which they have entered. They are said even to have
entered the beds, and one or two accounts have been sent in to the
effect that they bite human beings like bedbugs.

REMEDIES.

Spraying the trees in the early part of the season with kerosene
emulsion will result in the death of the majority of the immature indi-
viduals. When they crowd together in the autumn upon the trunks of
the trees they can be readily destroyed with hot water or may be swept
en masse into kerosene pans. A little industrious work at this time of
the year will reduce the numbers of the insect so greatly that little
damage need be feared from them the following season.

L. O. HOWARD,
Hntomologist.
Approved :
JAMES WILSON,
Secretary.

WASHINGTON, D. C., January 8, 1898.

O

NoTE.—Since 1898 the insect has been received from many additional localities
in the States mentioned on page 2, but no new States appear to have been
invaded.—L. O. H., October 21, 1903.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES

WLAN

3 9088 01272 6865