New on Featured Creatures! Potato tuberworm.

We are pleased to announce a new article on Featured Creatures!

Take a sneak peek with this excerpt from the article: The potato tuberworm Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller), also known as potato tuber moth or tobacco splitworm, is an oligophagous pest (an insect feeding on a restricted range of food plants) of crops belonging to the family Solanaceae (mainly potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.), tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.), and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.)). Phthorimaea operculella has been a minor pest of tobacco for more than 100 years. However, in North Carolina, this pest has emerged as a problem in tobacco plantings over the last five years. This pest has been reported in tropical, subtropical, and Mediterranean agro-zones.

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ABOVE: Damage on a potato inflicted by the potato tuberworm, Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller). Photograph by Silvia I. Rondon, Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Oregon State University.

Authors: Harsimran K. Gill; Gurminder Chahil, Dalhousie University, NS, Canada; Gaurav Goyal, Arshdeep K. Gill Department of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural University, India; and Jennifer L. Gillett-Kaufman UF/IFAS Entomology and Nematology Department

Available at: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/VEG/POTATO/potato_tuberworm.htm

 

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Posted: March 21, 2014


Category: AGRICULTURE, Crops, Pests & Disease
Tags: Featured Creatures, Pest Alert, UF-IFAS Pest Alert, UF/IFAS Pest Alert


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