Food Habit of the Garden Springtail, Bourletiella hortensis Fitch, in Relation to Its Importance as a Sugar Beet Pest (Collembola: Suminthuridae)

Abstract

In Japan, the garden springtail (Bourletiella hortensis FITCH) had been considered to be a pest of various vegetables and crops, especially sugar beet, in the seedling stage. However, in the laboratory tests, this species hardly fed on the seedlings of sugar beet. On the other hand, it injured the seedlings of cucumber, radish, rape, Rorippa islandica and common chickweed. In the microscopic examination, spores, pollen, fragments of hyphae and moss, and particles of soil were frequently found in the alimentary canal of B. hortensis. Fragments of spiral trachea of the vascular plants were frequently detected in individuals caged with cucumber seedlings, but rarely in individuals caged with sugar beet seedlings. Therefore, this species does not appear to be economically important for sugar beet cultivation, though secondary injury that would enlarge the scars caused by the flea beetle may occur. © 1988, JAPANESE SOCIETY OF APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY. All rights reserved.