Journal of Economic Entomology (1995) 88, 1324-1331

Michael P. Hoffmann, Jonathan J. Kirkwyland and Paula M. Davis (1995)
Spatial distribution of adult corn flea beetles, Chaetocnema pulicaria (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), in sweet corn and development of a sampling plan
Journal of Economic Entomology 88 (5), 1324-1331
Abstract: The corn flea beetle, Chaetocnema pulicaria Melsheimer, is an important pest of sweet corn because it transmits Erwinia stewartii (Smith) Dye, the causal pathogen of Stewart's wilt. Our goal was to quantify corn flea beetle distribution within and between sweet corn plants and develop a sampling method that would be compatible with an existing sampling plan for lepidopteran pests. From plant emergence to the 5th fully emerged leaf, stage, >50% of the corn flea beetles were recorded on the uppermost fully emerged leaf and the whorl leaves. For more mature sweet corn, 40-50% of the corn flea beetles were recorded on leaves 4-6. The between-plant distribution pattern of adult corn flea beetles fit a negative binomial distribution and was aggregated. The Wald sequential probability ratio test was used to develop sequential sampling plans for different combinations of type I and II errors, and 2 sets of decision rule boundaries. The sampling plans were validated and the effect of truncation at 100 samples examined by Monte Carlo simulation techniques. With the upper boundary of the decision rule set at the current threshold, the sampling plan would be reasonably cost effective and compatible with the lepidopteran sampling plan, although the type II error is relatively high.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): Paula M. Davis

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
surveys/sampling/distribution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Chaetocnema pulicaria	Maize/corn (Zea mays)	U.S.A. (NE)