. Common injurious insects of Kansas. Insect pests; Insects. rX8E0TS ATTACKING LARGE FRUITS. 87. PLUM OUROULIO. (Conotyachelus nenuphar Herbst.; Order. Coleoptera.) Diagnosis.—Diseased aud gummy, unripe plums falling to the ground; within these plums a small, white, soft, footless grub. Many of the plums hanging in the tree marked with a small, crescent-shaped slit. Deseription and Life-hhtorij.—This is the most formidable plum pest of this country. The adult insect is a "small, rough, gray- ish-black beetle about one-fifth of an inch long, with a black, shining hump on the middle of each
. Common injurious insects of Kansas. Insect pests; Insects. rX8E0TS ATTACKING LARGE FRUITS. 87. PLUM OUROULIO. (Conotyachelus nenuphar Herbst.; Order. Coleoptera.) Diagnosis.—Diseased aud gummy, unripe plums falling to the ground; within these plums a small, white, soft, footless grub. Many of the plums hanging in the tree marked with a small, crescent-shaped slit. Deseription and Life-hhtorij.—This is the most formidable plum pest of this country. The adult insect is a "small, rough, gray- ish-black beetle about one-fifth of an inch long, with a black, shining hump on the middle of each wing-case, and behind this a more or less distinct band of a dull, ochre-yellow color, with some whitish marks about the ; The beetle belongs to the family of curculios or snouted beetles; the snout of our plum weevil is rather short, but yet easily made out. The eggs are laid in the young, green fruit shortly after it is formed. The female cuts through the skin of the fruit with her jaws, which are at the tip of the snout. She then enlarges this hole, deposits an egg in it, pushing the egg well into the hole with her snout. She next cuts a small, crescent-shaped slit in front of the hole^ so as to undermine the egg and leave it in a sort of flap The object of the crescent slit is probably to wilt the flap, and thus prevent the growing fruit from crushing the egg. The female lays from 50 to 100 eggs. The larva, as soon as hatched, begins to feed upon the pulp of the fruit, boring a winding channel to the center, where it feeds around the stone. The larva, full-grown, is about two-fifths of an inch long, soft, glassy white, with light- brown head and without feet. The infested fruit usually drops oft" and falls to the ground before the larva finishes its feeding. Within the fallen plum the larva completes its growth, crawls out and into the ground for several inches, and changes to pupa. After three or four weeks it emerges as an adult weevil (beetle). Plum
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1892
