Date of Award:

5-1-1966

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Biology

Department name when degree awarded

Entomology

Committee Chair(s)

B. A. Haws

Committee

B. A. Haws

Abstract

The production of alfalfa seed is a major agricultural industry in various parts of the world, including the United States. One of the most serious pests of alfalfa seed is the alfalfa seed chalcid, Bruchophagus roddi Gussakovsii. The female chalcid destroys the seed by ovipositing in young alfalfa seed that is about nine days old. The egg hatches into a white larva in about four days. During the course of larval development, it devours virtually everything in the seed. When the chalcid completes its last or fourth larval instar, the insect may follow one of two alternatives of development: (1) It may defecate, pupate, continue to develop, and emerge as an adult, or (2) it may diapause and over winter as a fourth instar larva.

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