Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-jwnkl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T20:05:37.908Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A DISEASE OF PALE WESTERN CUTWORMS (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE) REARED IN THE LABORATORY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

R. Kasting
Affiliation:
Research Station, Canada Department of Agriculture, Lethbridge, Alberta
A. J. McGinnis
Affiliation:
Research Station, Canada Department of Agriculture, Lethbridge, Alberta
E. J. Hawn
Affiliation:
Research Station, Canada Department of Agriculture, Lethbridge, Alberta

Abstract

After successfully rearing the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morrison, for years in the laboratory such severe mortality developed in the colonies that further nutritional studies were impossible. The symptoms and effects of the disease syndrome are described. Neither steam sterilization of food and rearing equipment nor use of antibiotics in the food prevented disease. A bacterium tentatively identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa was isolated from dead insects and when injected or fed to healthy larvae caused the disease. Use of a ’clean room’ and associated aseptic techniques for rearing the insects reduced the numbers of microorganisms in the environment and again permitted the pale western cutworm to be reared successfully.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1971

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amonkar, S. V., Kalle, G. P., and Nair, K. K.. 1967. Mechanism of pathogenicity of Pseudo-monas in the house fly. J. invert. Pathol. 9: 235240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Austin, P. 1968. Clean rooms of the world. Burns and MacEachern, Don Mills, Ont.Google Scholar
Breed, R. S., Murrary, E. G. D., and Smith, N. R.. 1957. Bergey's manual of determinative bacteriology. 7th ed. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, Md.Google Scholar
Bucher, G. E. and Stephens, J. M.. 1957. A disease of grasshopper caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Schroeter) Migula. Can. J. Microbiol. 3: 611625.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Day, M. F. 1965. The use of pathogens in insect control. Australian J. Sci. 28: 241243.Google Scholar
Grace, T. D. C. and Mercer, E. H.. 1965. A new virus of the Saturnid Antheraea eucalypti Scott. J. invert. Pathol. 7: 241244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, L. A. and Blakeley, P. E.. 1957. A method of rearing the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr. (Lepidoptera: Phalaenidae), in the laboratory. Can. Ent. 89: 8789.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, L. A. and Blakeley, P. E.. 1958. Development, mortality from starvation, and oviposition of the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) when fed on various food plants. Can. Ent. 90: 650653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kasting, R. and McGinnis, A. J.. 1959. Nutrition of the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). II: Dry matter and nitrogen economy of larvae fed on sprouts of a hard red spring and a durum wheat. Can. J. Zool. 37: 713720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kasting, R. and McGinnis, A. J.. 1962. Nutrition of the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). IV: Amino acid requirements determined with glucose-U-C14. J. Insect Physiol. 8: 97103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kasting, R. and McGinnis, A. J.. 1968. Growth cabinet for the efficient handling of containers used for rearing insects. Can. Ent. 100: 193195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, K. M. and Atkinson, N. J.. 1927. Quantitative methods of collecting and rearing soil cutworms. J. econ. Ent. 20: 821830.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, M. F. and Fleming, C.. 1967. A proteolytic pseudomonad from skin lesions of rainbow trout. I. Characteristics of the pathogenic effects and the extra cellular proteinase. Can. J. Microbiol. 13: 405416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magwood, S. E. 1966. Can commercial poultry hatcheries be made “hospital clean”. Can. Agric. 1: 2627.Google Scholar
McGinnis, A. J. and Kasting, R.. 1959. Nutrition of the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). I: Effects of underfeeding and artificial diets on growth and development, and a comparison of wheat sprouts of Thatcher, Triticum aestivum L., and Golden Ball, T. durum Desf., as food. Can. J. Zool. 37: 259266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGinnis, A. J. and Kasting, R.. 1960. Nutrition of the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). III: Lyophilized sprouts and leaves of wheat as a basal diet for larvae and effect of supplementation with L-leucine. Can. J. Zool. 38: 585592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McWhirter, K. and Scali, V.. 1966. Ecological bacteriology of the meadow brown butterfly. Heredity 21: 517521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, F. P. and Collar, J. D.. 1964. Description and treatment of a Pseudomonas infection in white catfish. Appl. Microbiol. 12: 201203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mitsuhashi, J. and Maramorosch, K.. 1963. Aseptic cultivation of four virus transmitting species of leafhoppers (Cicadelledae). Contr. Boyce Thompson Inst. Pl. Res. 22: 165173.Google Scholar
Ogino, S., Wada, H., and Natsui, H.. 1970. A proteinase produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from Chilo suppressalis. Agric. Biol. Chem. 34: 11261128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prasertphon, S. 1967. Mycotoxin production by species of Entomophthora. J. invert. Pathol. 9: 281282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riley, R. L. and O'Grady, F.. 1961. Airborne infection. Macmillan, New York.Google Scholar
Seamans, H. L. and McMillan, E.. 1935. The effect of food plants on the development of the pale western cutworm (Agrotis orthogonia Morr.). J. econ. Ent. 28: 421424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Service, M. W. 1970. Insect mortality. Nature 227: 421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wogan, G. N. 1966. Mycotoxin contamination of foodstuffs from world protein sources. In Altschul, A. M. (Ed.), Adv. in Chem. Series 57. Am. Chem. Soc., Washington.Google Scholar
Yendol, W. G., Miller, E. M., and Behnke, C. N.. 1968. Toxic substances from entomophthoraceous fungi. J. invert. Pathol. 10 315319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar