Search

Field-collectedAgonum muelleri(Herbst) adults were videotaped to assess their ability to climb soybean (Glycine max(L.) Merr. (Fabaceae)) plants. All individuals climbed up and down soybean plants multiple times.Agonum muellerispent from 12.5 ± 3.4% to 54.1 ± 11.3% of their time on soybean plants. CagedA. muelleriadults on plants infested with soybean aphids,Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae), reduced the number of apterous adults. The presence of predators had an indirect effect on the density of nymphal aphids by reducing the numbers of adult aphids.Agonum muelleri, an abundant carabid in soybean fields, readily climbs soybean plants to feed on soybean aphids.

Intercropping has potential as an alternative to chemical methods of pest control, and one of its effects may be to provide a favourable environment for beneficial invertebrates, including polyphagous predators such as carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae). This paper compares pitfall catches of carabids from clover-undersown cabbages and cabbages which were kept weed free by hoeing. There were four undersowing treatments consisting of two clover seed rates combined with high and low sward heights. Two species of carabid, Pterostichus melanarius and Loricera pilicornis, were collected in higher numbers from the undersown plots, but four species, Bembidion tetracolum, Trechus quadristriatus, Notiophilus biguttatus and Amara apricara, were more frequent in the hoed plots. All six of these species did not differ in numbers among undersown treatments. Two other species, Agonum muelleri and Bembidion lampros, did differ numerically among undersowing treatments, but the biggest differences were early...

The abundance and seasonal dynamics of carabid beetles and other ground-dwelling arthropods in conventional and low-input dry bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cropping systems were investigated over two field seasons in Maine, USA. In 1988, carabids and staphylinids were significantly greater in number in the low-input plots. Staphylinids and arachnids were significantly more abundant in the low-input plots in 1989. Elaterid adults were abundant in 1988, and the number in the conventional plots was 23 times higher than in the low-input plots. Multivariate analysis showed that compositions of major ground-dweling arthropods differed significantly between the two cropping systems from the early to middle season of plant growth. Individual carabid species differed between the two cropping systems. Harpalus rufipes, Pterostichus melanarius, Agonum muelleri, Clivina fossor, Carabus memoralis, Carabus auratus , and Loricera pilicornis were dominant carabid species in this study. In 1988, Pterostichus melanarius, Carabus auratus , and L. pilicornis were significantly more abundant in the low-input plots, while A. muelleri and Clivina fossor were significantly more abundant in the conventional plots. In 1989, however, only A. muelleri was significantly different between cropping systems and a significantly higher number was trapped in the low-input plots.