Are we breeding smarter Japanese beetles?
 

We had our first major beetle infestation last summer, and my wife and I
spent many enjoyable evenings picking them off the shrubs and dropping
them into a jar of soapy water.

We noticed that they had only 2 defense moves; one was to raise their
back legs when alarmed, and the other was to simply drop off the leaf
they were currently munching on. They would almost never fly away. This
made them darned easy to catch.

This year, more and more of them are actually flying off when
approached.

Are we accidentally selecting for this undesirable behavior?

On the other hand, we've found that imidacloprid is actually effective
in protecting our shrub roses and dwarf crab apple tree. Our untreated
sand cherries are being chewed to shreds.

--
St. Paul, MN

Are we breeding smarter Japanese beetles?
 

In

Billy wrote:

ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS

Thank you for your pointless restating of the obvious.

--
St. Paul, MN

Are we breeding smarter Japanese beetles?
 

On 01 Jul 2012 16:01:25 GMT, Bert wrote:
This year, more and more of them are actually flying off when
approached.

Are we accidentally selecting for this undesirable behavior?

Yes, it's quite possible to select animal behaviors by breeding.
It's also possible that sub-lethal doses of imidocloprid could be influencing
their behaviors, also.

Kay

Are we breeding smarter Japanese beetles?
 

"Bert" wrote in message
. ..
We had our first major beetle infestation last summer, and my wife and I
spent many enjoyable evenings picking them off the shrubs and dropping
them into a jar of soapy water.

We noticed that they had only 2 defense moves; one was to raise their
back legs when alarmed, and the other was to simply drop off the leaf
they were currently munching on. They would almost never fly away. This
made them darned easy to catch.

This year, more and more of them are actually flying off when
approached.

Are we accidentally selecting for this undesirable behavior?

On the other hand, we've found that imidacloprid is actually effective
in protecting our shrub roses and dwarf crab apple tree. Our untreated
sand cherries are being chewed to shreds.

--
St. Paul, MN

Here next door in Wi. ours always flew, so I don't know what kind you're
breeding over there. I will say temperature affected their flying.
Hotter=more flying, colder=less.
Now all that said I've had to kill exactly 4 of them this year versus about
4000 the last couple years. Used no chemicals. I attribute it to the
totally weird and inside out weather. Maybe they went the way of the cherry
and maple syrup crops this spring.