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Egyptian Alfalfa Weevil

 

Hypera brunneipennis (Boheman) -- Coleoptera:  Curculionidae)

 

{Also Named: Pytonomus brunneipennis Boheman-- Coleoptera:  Curculionidae]

 

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       Hypera brunnipennis, the Egyptian alfalfa weevil, is a true weevil in the family Curculionidae. The name is sometimes found spelled in the literature as  Hypera brunneipennis or Pytonomus brunneipennis Boheman.  The weevil adults are light brown with dark brown and grey markings on their backs and are about 0.2 inches long.  Adult also emerge from a summer aestivation in late autumn or winter and migrate to alfalfa fields to feed, mate and lay eggs.  Females chews openings in the plant stem where eggs they lay eggs.  The eggs may be laid  in living or dead stems near the soil surface or in plant fragments on the ground.  Eggs will hatch in five to ten days depending on the temperature.  The hatched larvae are very small legless.  Their color is greenish and they attain a length of only one-quarter inch when grown, and their color assumes a lighter green with a whitish strip on their back.  The head is dark brown to black.

 

       The weevils feeds on alfalfa plant terminals of the first growth after winter.  This feeding does not cause much damage to alfalfa but produces stem scars.  However, later the larvae begin to feed on terminal buds and leaves and slowly move down the plant feeding on young developing leaves.  Succeeding instar larvae cause the most damage by feeding on interveinal alfalfa leaf tissue, skeletonizing, bronzing, and subsequently defoliating plants, which of course reduces photosynthsis and the damage to regrowth buds can stunt growth and kill alfalfa stems.  Most damage usually occurs under field windrows because harvesting moves weevil larvae under cut hay where they feed on new growth.  There is considerable damage to the first and sometimes to second and third hay cuttings.

 

       Ongoing biological control research involves both insect parasitic and predatory species and entomopathogenic fungi.

 

REFERENCES:

 

Amira, A. Ibrahim & A. H. El-Heneidy.  1981.  Immature stages of Bathyplectes curculionis Thoms. (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae).   Res. Bull 1544, July 1981, Ain Shams University, Fac. of Agric., Cairo, Egypt.

 

El-Sherif, S. I., M. F. S. Tawfik  & A. H.  El-Heneidy.  1978.  The biology of the Egypt alfalfa weevil, Hypera brunneipennis Boh. (Coleoptera, Curculionidae).  Beitrage Trop. Landwirt. Veterinarmed. 16 (1):  79-89, Germany.

 

Gonzalez, D., L. Etzei, M. Esmaili,  A. H.  El-Heneidy  & I. Kaddou.  1980.  Distribution of Bathyplectes curculionis and Bathyplectes  anurus (Hym.: Ichneumonidae) from Hypera (Col.: Curculionidae) on alfalfa in Egypt, Iraq and Iran.  Entomophaga 25 (2):  111-121, France.

 

Hassanein, Fawzia A. & A. H. El-Heneidy.  1988.  Comparative study of the parasitism by Microplitis rufiventris Kok. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and Periboae orbate Wied. (Diptera: Tachinidae) on main lepidopterous pests in vegetable crop fields in Egypt.  Bull. Soc. Ent. Egypte, Econ. Ser. 17:  127-135.

 

Smetana, A., eds.  2013.  Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera, Volume 8: Curculionoidea II.  Apollo Books. ISBN 978-90-04-25916-4.

 

El Husseini, M. M. M.  2019.  Management of the Egyptian alfalfa weevil, Hypera brunneipennis (Boheman) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in the alfalfa, Medicago sativa L., using the entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin. Egypt J. Biol. Pest Control 29:  82.

 

El-Sheikh, W. E. A.  2019.  Population Dynamics and Seasonal Development of the Egyptian Alfalfa Weevil, Hypera brunneipennis (Boh.), (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in El-Farafra Oasis, New Valley Governorate, Egypt.  J. Plant Prot. and Path., Mansoura Univ. 10(6):  311-316.