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The boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) is a species of beetle in the family Curculionidae.The boll weevil feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central Mexico, [1] it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19th century and had infested all U.S. cotton-growing areas by the 1920s, devastating the industry and the people working in the American South.
The adult insect is slender, about 1 to 1.5 cm (0.4 to 0.6 in) long, with a red thorax and dark brown wings marked with a yellow cross. It is native to the southeast of the United States, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. It is a pest of cotton crops and other plants, the adults and older nymphs feeding on the emerging bolls and the ripening seeds. [1]
Dysdercus cingulatus is a species of true bug in the family Pyrrhocoridae, commonly known as the red cotton stainer. [1] It is a serious pest of cotton crops, the adults and older nymphs feeding on the emerging bolls and the cotton seeds as they mature, transmitting cotton-staining fungi as they do so.
Dysdercus is a widespread genus of true bugs in the family Pyrrhocoridae; a number of species attacking cotton bolls may be called "cotton stainers." Description
Once a crop has been harvested, the field is plowed under as soon as possible to stop the life cycle of the new generation of pink bollworm. Unharvested bolls harbor the larvae, so these are destroyed. The plants are plowed into the earth and the fields are irrigated liberally to drown out remaining pests. Some farmers burn the stubble after ...
In especially bad years, the larvae destroyed over a third of cotton crops. [9] This resulted in the United States losing almost $30 million a year in lost profits (over $700 million in today's terms). [9] Adults feed at flowers of many different species, but are probably not significant pollinators.
Insects are considered pests for a variety of reasons, including direct damage by feeding on crop plants in the field or by infesting stored products, indirect damage by spreading viral diseases of crop plants (especially by sucking insects such as leafhoppers), spreading disease among humans and livestock, and annoyance to humans.
Cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa zea, and native budworm, Helicoverpa punctigera, are caterpillars that damage cotton crops. Some other Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) larvae also feed on cotton – see list of Lepidoptera that feed on cotton plants. Green mirid (Creontiades dilutus), a sucking insect; Spider mites, Tetranychus urticae, T. ludeni ...