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Seed Wasp on Multiflora Rose, Rosa multiflora, in Virginia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

Warren T. Mays
Affiliation:
VA Polytech. Inst. State Univ., Blacksburg, VA 24061
Loke-Tuck Kok
Affiliation:
VA Polytech. Inst. State Univ., Blacksburg, VA 24061

Abstract

Multiflora rose is a major weed in pastures, highway embankments, and recreational areas. A chalcid wasp, Megastigmus aculeatus (Swederus) (Hymenoptera: Torymidae), which feeds on the multiflora rose seeds, is a potential biological control agent for this weed. Distribution of multiflora rose and the seed wasp was studied from 1983 to 1986 in Virginia. Multiflora achenes collected from 58 sites in 51 counties showed that M. aculeatus was present in all but one of the counties surveyed; female:male sex ratio was high (94:1), indicating parthenogenesis. Infestation rates of the achenes averaged 26.5% in 1985 and 23.9% in 1986. Severe winter temperatures appear to affect the wasp population adversely.

Information

Type
Research
Copyright
Copyright © 1988 by the Weed Science Society of America 

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