Insects Collected from the Surface of Berries

The insects collected externally from the fruits included three ant genera, four families of Hemiptera, and two cantharid beetles. The majority of these species are generalists and are likely to be casual visitors based on low numbers collected and known biological information with the exception of Lygus hesperus. This plant bug (family Miridae) is a species known to be economically damaging to strawberries, fruit trees, and other crops (Zalom et al. 2014), so this insect’s association with the V. globulare fruits may be of interest for future investigation.

lygus

Lygus bug collected from the surface of berries.Lygus hesperus, a known pest of cultivated fruits, were collected from the surface of the berries at one site in 2015. Photo: ars.usda.gov.