PLANT BUGS (HEMIPTERA, MIRIDAE) - EFFECTS OF FEEDING ON GRASS SEED DEVELOPMENT - AND CULTURAL-CONTROL

The plant bugs Leptopterna ferrugata (Fallén) and Megaloceroea recticornis (Geoffrey) reduced seed set in grasses by feeding on the culm or directly on developing seeds. Bugs made relatively fewer feeding probes on stems than on leaves and panicles during different stages of development of grass. The viability of seeds was destroyed when bugs had fed directly on the developing seeds. Survival of overwintering eggs laid in the stems of grasses determined the density of bugs the following season and was influenced by postharvest management of the straw. Mechanical removal of the straw was not as effective in reducing the incidence of feeding injury as burning the straw. © 1979 Entomological Society of America.