Flight Activity of Cyrtobagous salviniae Calder and Sands1 in Louisiana

Abstract. Little is known of and no flight activity has been documented for the salvinia weevil, Cyrtobagous salviniae Calder and Sands, in the United States. A bucket-type blacklight was used to determine the flight activity of the salvinia weevil in Louisiana from 2013–2015. One trap was operated during summer and early fall 2013 at the LSU AgCenter weevil rearing facility at Houma, LA. Number of weevils captured in the trap ranged from 30 (18 July) to zero (11 September). Weevils per kilogram of salvinia from the adjacent pond ranged from 9.1 (15 August) to 41.5 (8 October). Another trap was run on Cross Lake at Shreveport, LA, during 2013–2015 in conjunction with weevil releases for biological control of giant salvinia, Salvinia molesta Mitchell. During 2013, nine and six weevils were captured in the light trap on 11 and 18 September, respectively. No weevils were captured in the light trap in 2014 because of the late release of weevils in August. During 2015, weevils captured in the trap ranged from ...