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RUBIDIUM AS A MARKER FOR MEXICAN BEAN BEETLES, EPILACHNA VARIVESTIS (COLEOPTERA: COCCINELLIDAE)1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Merle Shepard
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology and Economic Zoology, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina
V. H. Waddill
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology and Economic Zoology, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina

Abstract

Mexican bean beetles, Epilachna varivestis Mulsant, were marked with rubidium by allowing larvae and adults to feed on foliage of bean plants treated with a rubidium chloride solution. Detection of rubidium was effected by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Adults which had fed for 4 days on rubidium-chloride-treated plants then transferred to untreated plants contained elevated levels of rubidium up to 34 days. The presence of rubidium was not detectable in the progeny of treated beetles at levels significantly different from controls. Consumption of rubidium-chloride-treated foliage produced no observable detrimental effects on the beetles. The technique allowed them to acquire a relatively permanent label through their normal feeding activity.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1976

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