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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Logan, Utah » Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #290626
Title: Seed feeding beetles (Bruchidae, Curculionidae, Brentidae) from legumes (Dalea ornata, Astragalus filipes) and other forbs needed for restoring rangelands of the Intermountain West

Author
item Cane, James
item JOHNSON, CLARENCE - Northern Arizona University
item NAPOLES, JESUS - Colegio De Postgraduados
item Johnson, Douglas
item HAMMON, ROBERT - Colorado State University

Submitted to: Western North American Naturalist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/29/2013
Publication Date: 1/7/2014
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/58543
Citation: Cane, J.H., Johnson, C., Napoles, J.R., Johnson, D.A., Hammon, R. 2014. Seed feeding beetles (Bruchidae, Curculionidae, Brentidae) from legumes (Dalea ornata, Astragalus filipes) and other forbs needed for restoring rangelands of the Intermountain West. Western North American Naturalist. 73(4):477-484.

Interpretive Summary: Multiple species of specialist beetles were found infesting seed of a milkvetch, a prairie-clover and several other prevalent wildflowers across the rangelands of the U.S. Intermountain West. These plant species are being put into commercial seed production to generate enough seed for post-fire seedings to rehabilitate these degraded rangelands. Control of these weevils, without jeopardizing bees that pollinate these seed crops, will be necessary to avert their introduction to storage warehouses, farms and large-scale reseedings.

Technical Abstract: Larval seed beetles are common seed predators that feed within individual seeds, and legume plants are especially plagued by seed beetles. This can be problematic for seed growers who raise seeds of North American legumes native to the Intermountain Region of the western U.S. for use in the revegetation of fire-ravaged rangelands. In this study, we made wildland seed collections of basalt milkvetch (Astragalus filipes) and western prairie clover (Dalea ornata) across their range of distribution. We identified seed predators in these seed collections and commonly found seed beetles of the genera Acanthoscelides, Apion and occasionally Tychius in both legume species, with many new state, county, and host records. Seed beetles that pupate and overwinter in the seeds risk being transported to seed storage warehouses and distributed to new seedings unless first detected and controlled.