2009 - Florida CAPS Oxycarenus Survey Report
2008-2009 Florida CAPS survey for Oxycarenus hyalinipennis (Hemiptera: Oxycarenidae) in South Florida Andrew Derksen, FDACS-DPI-CAPS Pest Survey Specialist, Karolynne Griffiths, USDA-APHIS-PPQ-CAPS Pest Survey Specialist and Trevor R. Smith, FDACS-DPI-CAPS State Survey Coordinator Abstract Oxycarenus hyalinipennis is a significant global pest of cotton that has been detected just offshore of Florida. A late October 2009 survey to detect any invasive pests of cotton in the Florida Keys established six new sentinel sites, including four sites not sampled by previous surveys in natural areas in the northern Keys in addition to the six already stablished sentinel sites. Surveys were conducted through direct examination of plants, careful examination of harvested plant material, and through an overnight UV-light trapping. The target pest was not detected at any site surveyed. Introduction The cotton seed bug (Fig. 1), Oxycarenus hyalinipennis (Costa 1847), is a small lygaeoid pest of cotton. While the insect’s origins may lie in southern Europe and North Africa, it has since expanded to become a cosmopolitan pest with a global distribution. In the Western Hemisphere, it was first documented in the North Caicos Islands in 1991 (Slater and Baranowski 1994); and by 2005, it had been observed throughout the Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and Hispaniola (Baranowski and Slater 2005). Surveys conducted by the Florida CAPS program in the Bahamas in 2007 (Smith and Brambila 2008) found the bug established in high density. This pest has yet to be documented in the United States. While O. hyalinipennis is a polyphagous insect, it has been documented as a prominent pest upon the following genera within the Malvaceae: Abutilon, Cola, Eiodendron, Gossypium, Malva, Sphaeralcea, Hibiscus, Pavonia, Sida, Dombeya, Sterculia and Triumfetta (Samy 1969). Of these plants, domestic cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., holds the greatest economic significance to North American growers. The insects feed on the seed and fluids from their bodies can stain the bolls, requiring additional processing to remove color from the fibers. Wild cotton is the ancestor of modern domestic strains, and can be found flowering yearround in isolated patches throughout the Florida Keys and extreme South Florida. While this plant used to have a broader distribution in disturbed and sunlit areas throughout South Florida, repeated efforts were made to eradicate wild cotton. These attempts began in the early part of the twentieth century to remove overwintering sites for the cotton boll weevil Anthonomus grandis Boheman 1843, and continued as part of a Works Progress Administration program in 1933 to eliminate populations of the pink bollworm Pectinophora gossypiella Saunders 1844. These management programs were so successful that wild cotton itself is now considered an endangered species.
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With populations of O. hyalinipennis so close to Florida at high density, surveys must be conducted of potential hosts. This pest threatens a historically and culturally significant plant in Florida, and could become an economically significant national pest throughout the southeastern states of the cotton belt. Florida Keys and Southeastern Florida Survey, July 8-10, 2008 With the help of US National Park Service officials, a CAPS survey team visited five wild cotton sites were identified for survey in the Everglades National Park on July 8. Wild cotton plants were found in two of the five sites visited. Another seven wild cotton sites in the Florida Keys were visited on July 10. Some of the cotton sites in the Keys were in homeowners’ yards while others were in managed natural areas. Eight okra fields in Homestead, Florida were also surveyed for this pest on July 9. Surveys followed after the protocol established by Smith and Brambila 2008. Coordinates for each site were recorded and mapped using handheld GPS units. Plants were examined to detect the presence of O. hyalinipennis or feeding symptoms (Fig. 2). The cotton seed bugs are most visible and active when the cotton plants have freshly matured bolls with dry seeds. If the plants were in seed, twenty cotton bolls were removed from five plants at each sampling site. The bolls (Fig. 3) were inspected for the presence of lygaeoid insects and other seed-feeding invertebrate pests. Cotton bolls were removed from plants using pruning shears, sealed immediately in Ziploc bags, and stored in an ice chest until they could be examined. Invertebrate pests collected in or on cotton bolls were preserved in 70% isopropyl alcohol and sent to Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DPI) taxonomists for identification and preservation as specimens in the Florida State Collection of Arthropods (FSCA). Florida Keys Survey, October 28 – 29, 2009 A biannual survey of the Florida Keys was planned and contacts were established with Florida State Parks representatives throughout South Florida to identify larger and denser patches of G. hirsutum in protected areas. On October 28-29, eighteen sites were visited which based on DEP recommendations or reports developed from prior surveys. Cotton plants were present at nine of the sites, but seven sites were selected as sentinels for future surveys, based on their ease of access, the large number of cotton plants found at those locations, and the reduced likelihood that those plants would be removed or destroyed by the next survey period. A UV-light trap was suspended from a gumbo limbo, Bursera simaruba, immediately over cotton plants, and left out overnight at one site shortly before dusk (Fig. 4). It was collected shortly after dawn the next morning. Insects collected in the trap were placed in vials in 70% isopropyl alcohol, and sent to DPI taxonomists for identification and preservation as FSCA specimens. Monitoring Permanent inspection sites or “sentinel sites” and trapping locations were selected throughout Florida (Table 5). Sentinel sites were located in areas where the pests’ preferred host plants (cotton, okra and kenaf) could be found and UV-light traps were
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placed in areas related to a potential pathway for O. hyalinipennis to enter Florida. Typically, sentinel sites were chosen in pathways that were easily accessible (parks with open admission, roadsides, etc.) and had several host plants for inspection. Traps were placed in or around a point of entry and were checked at least once a month. All of these sites will be surveyed extensively after major weather events such as hurricanes and tropical storms. Results and Discussion All samples collected during this survey were submitted to the appropriate laboratories at the Division of Plant Industry where they were screened, sorted and identified. Over 300 insects were collected from wild cotton sites throughout South Florida (Table 1). Oxycarenus hyalinipennis was not found at any site surveyed nor was it intercepted in any of the UV traps. No other arthropod pest of agricultural significance was detected during this survey. This survey does not prove that the cotton seed bug is not present in the United States. However, it does indicate that this pest has not reached the wild cotton plants examined in the Everglades and the Keys. In some cases, the plants were not in the ideal growth stage for the detection of this pest or that the bugs were at a life stage difficult to detect, such as egg or early nymph stages. Further surveys are necessary to increase the chances for early detection of this foreign insect species. Future Surveys Nine additional sites growing okra in the Redlands farming area will be surveyed in a similar fashion. A UV trap will be left out overnight in cooperating growers’ fields [monthly]. Future surveys will also include wild cotton sites in southwestern Florida and kenaf sites in north central Florida (Fig. 5). Acknowledgements These surveys could not have been conducted without the assistance of Florida State Parks personnel Trudy Ferraro and Janice Duquesnel as well as Jimi Sadle (Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks) and Dr. Mary Lamberts (UF Miami-Dade Extension). Photography Credits: Cover page: Background of Cotton Survey 2006 (courtesy of Doug Gaskill, FDACS-DPI-CAPS). Photographs (left to right) courtesy of: -O. hyalinipennis, dorsal (by Natasha Wright, FDACS-DPI), www.forestryimages.org #UGA5190058. -O. hyalinipennis, dorsal (by Georg Goergen, USDA-APHIS, Cotonou, Benin). References Cited Baranowski, RM; and J.A. Slater. 2005. The Lygaeidae of the West Indies. University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Florida Agricultural Experimental Station Bulletin 402. 266 pp.
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Samy, O. 1969. A revision of the African species of Oxycarenus (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae). Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 121(4): 79 - 165. Slater, .JA.; and R.M. Baranowski. 1994. The occurrence of Oxycarenus hyalinipennis (Costa) (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) in the West Indies and new Lygaeidae records for the Turks and Caicos Islands of Providenciales and North Caicos. Florida Entomologist. 77(4): 495 – 497. Smith, T.R.; and J. Brambila. 2008. A major pest of cotton, Oxycarenus hyalinipennis (Hemiptera: Oxycarenidae) in the Bahamas. Florida Entomologist 91(3): 479 – 482.
Table 1. Checklist of arthropods collected during various surveys of wild cotton in South Florida. Collection Date
Method
Order
Family
Genus
species
June 8-10, 2008
Hand catch
Diplopoda Coleoptera Coleoptera Coleoptera Homoptera Lepidoptera Lepidoptera Psocoptera Thysanoptera Thysanoptera Coleoptera
Polyxenidae Curculionidae Languriidae Phalacridae Pseudococcidae Cosmopterigidae Tineidae Ectopsocidae Phlaeothripidae Thripidae Curculonidae Tenebrionidae Lygaeidae Aphididae Phlaeothripidae
Polyxenus Artipus Loberus NA Ferrisia Pyroderces NA NA Nesothrips Frankliniella Anthonomus Hymenorus Heraeus Aphis NA
fasciculatus floridanus sp.
Oct. 29, 2009
UV trap
Oct 29, 2009
Hand catch
Hemiptera Hemiptera Thysanoptera
virgata sp.
lativentris insularis alboannulatus sp. triguttatus gossypii
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Figure 1. Adult and five nymphal instars of the cotton seed bug, Oxycarenus hyalinipennis. (Photography credit: Natasha Wright, FDACS-DPI).
Figure 2. Andrew Derksen (FDACS-DPI-CAPS) examining a cotton plants at Black Point Marina. (Photography credit: Eduardo Varona, USDA-APHIS-PPQ).
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Figure 3. A cotton boll removed from plants at Black Point Marina. (Photography credit: Karolynne Griffiths, USDA-APHIS-PPQ).
Figure 4. A UV-light trap placed in proximity to cotton plants to collect arthropods. (Photography credit: Andrew Derksen, FDACS-DPI-CAPS).
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Figure 5. Map showing trapping locations and sentinel sites in 2009 for the cotton seed bug, Oxycarenus hyalinipennis.
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With populations of O. hyalinipennis so close to Florida at high density, surveys must be conducted of potential hosts. This pest threatens a historically and culturally significant plant in Florida, and could become an economically significant national pest throughout the southeastern states of the cotton belt. Florida Keys and Southeastern Florida Survey, July 8-10, 2008 With the help of US National Park Service officials, a CAPS survey team visited five wild cotton sites were identified for survey in the Everglades National Park on July 8. Wild cotton plants were found in two of the five sites visited. Another seven wild cotton sites in the Florida Keys were visited on July 10. Some of the cotton sites in the Keys were in homeowners’ yards while others were in managed natural areas. Eight okra fields in Homestead, Florida were also surveyed for this pest on July 9. Surveys followed after the protocol established by Smith and Brambila 2008. Coordinates for each site were recorded and mapped using handheld GPS units. Plants were examined to detect the presence of O. hyalinipennis or feeding symptoms (Fig. 2). The cotton seed bugs are most visible and active when the cotton plants have freshly matured bolls with dry seeds. If the plants were in seed, twenty cotton bolls were removed from five plants at each sampling site. The bolls (Fig. 3) were inspected for the presence of lygaeoid insects and other seed-feeding invertebrate pests. Cotton bolls were removed from plants using pruning shears, sealed immediately in Ziploc bags, and stored in an ice chest until they could be examined. Invertebrate pests collected in or on cotton bolls were preserved in 70% isopropyl alcohol and sent to Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DPI) taxonomists for identification and preservation as specimens in the Florida State Collection of Arthropods (FSCA). Florida Keys Survey, October 28 – 29, 2009 A biannual survey of the Florida Keys was planned and contacts were established with Florida State Parks representatives throughout South Florida to identify larger and denser patches of G. hirsutum in protected areas. On October 28-29, eighteen sites were visited which based on DEP recommendations or reports developed from prior surveys. Cotton plants were present at nine of the sites, but seven sites were selected as sentinels for future surveys, based on their ease of access, the large number of cotton plants found at those locations, and the reduced likelihood that those plants would be removed or destroyed by the next survey period. A UV-light trap was suspended from a gumbo limbo, Bursera simaruba, immediately over cotton plants, and left out overnight at one site shortly before dusk (Fig. 4). It was collected shortly after dawn the next morning. Insects collected in the trap were placed in vials in 70% isopropyl alcohol, and sent to DPI taxonomists for identification and preservation as FSCA specimens. Monitoring Permanent inspection sites or “sentinel sites” and trapping locations were selected throughout Florida (Table 5). Sentinel sites were located in areas where the pests’ preferred host plants (cotton, okra and kenaf) could be found and UV-light traps were
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placed in areas related to a potential pathway for O. hyalinipennis to enter Florida. Typically, sentinel sites were chosen in pathways that were easily accessible (parks with open admission, roadsides, etc.) and had several host plants for inspection. Traps were placed in or around a point of entry and were checked at least once a month. All of these sites will be surveyed extensively after major weather events such as hurricanes and tropical storms. Results and Discussion All samples collected during this survey were submitted to the appropriate laboratories at the Division of Plant Industry where they were screened, sorted and identified. Over 300 insects were collected from wild cotton sites throughout South Florida (Table 1). Oxycarenus hyalinipennis was not found at any site surveyed nor was it intercepted in any of the UV traps. No other arthropod pest of agricultural significance was detected during this survey. This survey does not prove that the cotton seed bug is not present in the United States. However, it does indicate that this pest has not reached the wild cotton plants examined in the Everglades and the Keys. In some cases, the plants were not in the ideal growth stage for the detection of this pest or that the bugs were at a life stage difficult to detect, such as egg or early nymph stages. Further surveys are necessary to increase the chances for early detection of this foreign insect species. Future Surveys Nine additional sites growing okra in the Redlands farming area will be surveyed in a similar fashion. A UV trap will be left out overnight in cooperating growers’ fields [monthly]. Future surveys will also include wild cotton sites in southwestern Florida and kenaf sites in north central Florida (Fig. 5). Acknowledgements These surveys could not have been conducted without the assistance of Florida State Parks personnel Trudy Ferraro and Janice Duquesnel as well as Jimi Sadle (Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks) and Dr. Mary Lamberts (UF Miami-Dade Extension). Photography Credits: Cover page: Background of Cotton Survey 2006 (courtesy of Doug Gaskill, FDACS-DPI-CAPS). Photographs (left to right) courtesy of: -O. hyalinipennis, dorsal (by Natasha Wright, FDACS-DPI), www.forestryimages.org #UGA5190058. -O. hyalinipennis, dorsal (by Georg Goergen, USDA-APHIS, Cotonou, Benin). References Cited Baranowski, RM; and J.A. Slater. 2005. The Lygaeidae of the West Indies. University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Florida Agricultural Experimental Station Bulletin 402. 266 pp.
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Samy, O. 1969. A revision of the African species of Oxycarenus (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae). Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 121(4): 79 - 165. Slater, .JA.; and R.M. Baranowski. 1994. The occurrence of Oxycarenus hyalinipennis (Costa) (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) in the West Indies and new Lygaeidae records for the Turks and Caicos Islands of Providenciales and North Caicos. Florida Entomologist. 77(4): 495 – 497. Smith, T.R.; and J. Brambila. 2008. A major pest of cotton, Oxycarenus hyalinipennis (Hemiptera: Oxycarenidae) in the Bahamas. Florida Entomologist 91(3): 479 – 482.
Table 1. Checklist of arthropods collected during various surveys of wild cotton in South Florida. Collection Date
Method
Order
Family
Genus
species
June 8-10, 2008
Hand catch
Diplopoda Coleoptera Coleoptera Coleoptera Homoptera Lepidoptera Lepidoptera Psocoptera Thysanoptera Thysanoptera Coleoptera
Polyxenidae Curculionidae Languriidae Phalacridae Pseudococcidae Cosmopterigidae Tineidae Ectopsocidae Phlaeothripidae Thripidae Curculonidae Tenebrionidae Lygaeidae Aphididae Phlaeothripidae
Polyxenus Artipus Loberus NA Ferrisia Pyroderces NA NA Nesothrips Frankliniella Anthonomus Hymenorus Heraeus Aphis NA
fasciculatus floridanus sp.
Oct. 29, 2009
UV trap
Oct 29, 2009
Hand catch
Hemiptera Hemiptera Thysanoptera
virgata sp.
lativentris insularis alboannulatus sp. triguttatus gossypii
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Figure 1. Adult and five nymphal instars of the cotton seed bug, Oxycarenus hyalinipennis. (Photography credit: Natasha Wright, FDACS-DPI).
Figure 2. Andrew Derksen (FDACS-DPI-CAPS) examining a cotton plants at Black Point Marina. (Photography credit: Eduardo Varona, USDA-APHIS-PPQ).
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Figure 3. A cotton boll removed from plants at Black Point Marina. (Photography credit: Karolynne Griffiths, USDA-APHIS-PPQ).
Figure 4. A UV-light trap placed in proximity to cotton plants to collect arthropods. (Photography credit: Andrew Derksen, FDACS-DPI-CAPS).
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Figure 5. Map showing trapping locations and sentinel sites in 2009 for the cotton seed bug, Oxycarenus hyalinipennis.
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