Role of Leaf Hairs in Resistance of a Clone of Beach Strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis, to Feeding by Adult Black Vine Weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Beach strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis (L.) Duchesne, clone CL-5, is resistant to feeding by adult black vine weevil (BVW), Otiorhynchus sulcatus (F.). Using a membrane filter feeding bioassay, no evidence for a chemical basis for this resistance could be obtained. Leaf toughness of a susceptible Fragaria × ananassa (Duchesne) cultivar and clone CL-5 did not differ. Removal of tomentum from the underside of fresh or freeze-dried CL-5 leaf disks rendered them as susceptible to BVW feeding as disks from a nonresistant cultivar. This, and other evidence, demonstrates that antixenosis exhibited by leaves of beach strawberry clone CL-5 to BVW is due, at least in part, to the dense covering of simple hairs on their abaxial surface.