Angela Tucker's List: Bean Leaf Beetle

• seven beetles per row-foot
• seed treatments Thiamethoxam (Cruiser and CruiserMaxx) and Imidacloprid  (Attendant, Dyna-Shield Imidacloprid and Senator) are labeled for early season  protection against bean leaf beetle injury. However, unless bean leaf beetle  populations are a recurring problem locally, some other controllable threat  would be needed to justify the use of a systemic seed treatment

• delay planting as a cultural method
• bean leaf beetle is attacked by parasitic mites, flies, and pathogenic diseases.
• two species of external parasitic mites, Trombidium, on adult bean leaf  beetles. Larval mites of both species were found under the wing covers where  they attached with their mouthparts to the soft tissue between the abdominal  segments. Mites parasitized both sexes of beetles but primarily attacked females
• overwintered beetles were attacked by tachinid flies. Parasitized beetles laid  very few or no eggs; one beetle laid a maximum of five eggs.
• Two species of fungi, Beauveria and Metarhizium, attacked  overwintered beetles
• rate of parasitism does fluctuate widely between no parastitism and very high  levels. The value of these natural enemies may not be well understood, but their  effects on reducing pest populations cannot be ignored

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• comovirus Bean pod mottle virus

  • what is a comovirus
• transmitted most commonly by the bean leaf beetle in  soybean
• Nebraska in 1981
• transmitted as the beetle regurgitates previous plant material which has the  virus and it is introduced into the feeding wound
• Greater yield loss occurs when plants are infected early in development
• Plants with BPMV can also have higher levels of Phomopsis seed infection and  produce discolored seed

• Symptoms of BPMV are green to yellow mottling (blotchiness)of younger leaves in the upper  canopy. In severe cases leaves may show puckering and distortion and plants can  be stunted. Pods can be misshapen with mottling and reduced  in size. Infected plants may have green stems after the pods have  matured. Seed from infected plants may appear smoky in color or have reduced  size and quality due to seed coat mottling which will  be brown or black depending on hilum color. The only way to confirm the presence  of BPMV is with serological testing (ELISA).

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