Dagestan Pollen Eater - A Thunderstorm Of The Harvest

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

The Dagestan pollen eater has a fairly solid habitat and damages a huge number of crops. The larvae of this pest are especially harmful: individuals of younger ages devour the dead remains of vegetation, and older larvae cause serious harm to agricultural plants, and the harm they cause has an outward resemblance to damage from wireworms. Tiny shoots and sown seeds are also often in the field of vision of gluttonous parasites. Most often sunflower, soybeans, sorghum and corn with wheat suffer from the harmful activity of Dagestan pollen eaters

Meet the pest

The Dagestan pollen-eater is a harmful black shiny beetle, the size of which ranges from 7 to 9.5 mm. Its filiform antennae have 11 segments, the length of which exceeds the length of the pronotum and heads. The elytra of the spectacular parasite are convex, and the clypeus and forehead are densely and evenly covered with small dots.

The size of the long white shiny eggs of the Dagestan pollen-eaters is about 1 mm. Larvae, growing up to 23 mm in length, are endowed with slightly rounded last segments, and there are small brownish stripes on the posterior edges of the segments. The anterior pair of thoracic legs in larvae is very massive. In general, their body can be described as dull-shiny and abundantly covered with thick and short, amusingly protruding hairs. The heads of the larvae are wrinkled-punctate, and their upper lips in the middle are equipped with transverse rows consisting of three long setae.

Larvae of different ages overwinter at a depth of forty to sixty centimeters in the soil. Individuals that have completed feeding in the steppe zone pupate approximately in May, and in the second half of the month, bugs appear, the maximum years of which are in June. Closer to the beginning of August, they disappear. The beetles' lifestyle is quite open - they fly all day long, feeding on the pollen of various cultures. They often gather on flowers in huge quantities, damaging not only their anthers, but also some other organs. Sometimes the tops of flower shoots also get it.

Females lay eggs in funny heaps, each of which often contains up to a hundred eggs. On embryonic development, as a rule, it takes about twelve days, and the average lifespan of voracious larvae is two years.

On the territory of Russia, this pest can be found in the steppe and forest-steppe zones of the European part, in the eastern direction up to the Urals, as well as in the eastern Transcaucasia and on the western coast of the Caspian Sea. And on the territory of Ukraine, Dagestan pollen eaters usually rage in the subzone of forb steppes, as well as in the forest-steppe zone, mainly in its southern zone. You can also find gluttonous parasites in Southeast Europe and the Crimea.

Basically, Dagestan pollen eaters are designated as pests of oilseeds (peanuts, safflower, sunflower, soybeans, etc.) and cereals (corn, wheat, sorghum, etc.) crops.

How to fight

Plant residues along with weeds should be systematically removed from the sites and destroyed. The row spacings of row crops are thoroughly processed, stubble plowing and fall plowing immediately after the end of the harvest.

Before sowing the seeds of grain crops, they are treated with "Tigam" or "Fentiuram". And at the same time as sowing seeds, it is recommended to add 12% HCH dust mixed with fertilizers to the soil. However, it is better not to add dust under vegetables and potatoes.

If there are a couple of bugs per square meter of cultivated crops, plantings are sprayed with polychloride emulsion (50%) or chlorophos solution (80%). The edges of the crops are allowed to be pollinated with dust, since it is on the outskirts that Dagestan pollen eaters accumulate in especially large quantities.