First Report of Annual Bluegrass Weevil, Listronotus maculicollis, Damage in Ohio

First Report of Annual Bluegrass Weevil, Listronotus maculicollis, Damage in Ohio

John L. Koenig, Department of Plant Pathology, 201 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210; David J. Shetlar, Department of Entomology, 1991 Kenny Road, The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210; and Joseph W. Rimelspach and Michael J. Boehm, Department of Plant Pathology, 201 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210

Corresponding author: John L. Koenig. koenig.254@osu.edu

Annual bluegrass weevil [Listronotus maculicollis (Kirby) (1)] larvae, pupae, and adults were recovered and identified in a sample received by the C. Wayne Ellett Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic (CWEPPDC) at The Ohio State University on 19 June 2007. Damage to the approaches and collars of four golf course putting greens was detected by the superintendent of Stonewater Golf Club, Highland Heights, OH (a suburb of Cleveland) during the week of 11 June 2007. The superintendent suspected damage from the larvae of the black turfgrass ataenius, Ataenius spretulus (1). Insecticide applications applied to suppress black turfgrass ataenius did not provide adequate levels of control. A sample was sent to the CWEPPDC for analysis where it was determined that the symptoms were not caused by a pathogen. Adult annual bluegrass weevils were observed in the samples. Mature larvae, pupae, callow adults, and adults of L. maculicollis were subsequently identified at the golf course during a site visit on 20 June 2007.

The annual bluegrass weevil has previously been mentioned as causing damage in the northeastern portion of North America (2), but this is the first confirmed cast of turf damage in Ohio. The weevil has been confirmed from New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Connecticut.

Adults are 3.5 to 4.0 mm long and a dark brown-black color, but they appear to be mottled gray to tan due to a covering of yellowish-brown mixed with spots of grayish-white scales (1). Eggs are deposited on the leaf sheaths of annual bluegrass and/or creeping bentgrass and hatch in 4 to 9 days. Larvae are creamy white in color, legless, and crescent shaped body 1 to 4.5 mm in length with a light brown head capsule that will darken with age. When mature they will grow to be about 4.5 mm in length. L. maculicollis adults overwinter in leaf litter of wood lots adjacent to managed turf areas. In early spring these adults walk and fly from these areas to search for Poa annua where they feed and complete two to three generations per year (1). Voucher specimens are deposited at the C. A. Triplehorn Insect Collection on The Ohio State University’s Columbus campus.

Literature Cited

1. Cameron, R. S., and Johnson, N. E. 1971. Biology of a species of Hyperodes (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) a pest of turfgrass. Search Agric. 1: 1-31.

2. Niemczyk, H. D., and Shetlar, D. J. 2000. Destructive Turf Insects, 2nd Edn. HDN Books, Wooster, OH.