CCT MENDOZA   20878
CENTRO CIENTIFICO TECNOLOGICO CONICET - MENDOZA
Centro Científico Tecnológico - CCT
artículos
Título:
Migration and dispersal of Anthonomus grandis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in South America
Autor/es:
STADLER, TEODORO AND MICAELA BUTELER
Revista:
REVISTA DE LA SOCIEDAD ENTOMOLóGICA ARGENTINA
Editorial:
SOCIEDAD ENTOMOLOGICA ARGENTINA
Referencias:
Año: 2007 vol. 66 p. 205 - 217
ISSN:
0373-5680
Resumen:
Migration and dispersal of Anthonomus grandis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in South America
STADLER, Teodoro and Micaela BUTELER
ABSTRACT. This study discusses the dispersal of Anthonomus
grandis Boheman, the cotton boll weevil, in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay
and Bolivia, exploring the ecological and physiological factors that have
made the dispersal and establishment of this insect in South America
so successful. The boll weevils phenotypic plasticity is represented by
its fl exible developmental time, its multivoltine life cycle with several
overlapping generations, its capacity to feed on pollen from diverse
botanical families as well as from non pollen food sources and its ability
to migrate and disperse aided by winds. These characteristics make it
a key pest for cotton. Probable overwintering «hot spots» for the boll
weevil were identifi ed in Misiones-Argentina, where large numbers of
prediapausing weevils concentrate after arrival from newly harvested
cotton fi elds in Paraguay, probably attracted by citrus orchards volatiles.
The boll weevils facultative quiescence is always relative to environmental
adverse conditions. This suggests that overwintering in the boll weevil
can be defi ned as «oligopause», an intermediate form of diapause. Since
its introduction to Brazil in 1983, until 2006, it has spread southwest at
an average of 61 km year-1 towards Argentina. However, it took the boll
weevil approximately ten years to move 250 km between Paraguay and the
main cotton growing area in Argentina. This slower progress is probably
due to the actions taken by the Argentine government through the boll
weevil eradication program. The arrival of the boll weevil at the cotton
cropping areas in Paraguay and Argentina reinforces the fact that the boll
weevil should fi nally be included in an integrated cotton pest management
program jointly with other major cotton pests.
KEY WORDS. Cotton boll weevil. Integrated Pest Management. Cotton
key pest.