Madarus vitis

Curculionidae

Ampeloglypter

Vitis vinifera

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Insect pests of farm, garden and orchard

Some notes on the grape-cane gall-maker Ampeloglypter sesostris

The grapecane gall-maker and the grapecane girdler

Ampeloglypter sesostris

Madarus vitis, new species
The Grape-cane gall-curculio

The canes of the Concord vine are frequently found to have galls on the last year's growth, in the shape of an elongated knot or swelling which is generally situated immediately above or below a joint. This gall was formed the previous fall while the tender cane was growing and has almost invariably a longitudinal slit or depression on one side, dividing that side into two cheeks, which generally have a rosy tint. The gall is caused by a little footless, white cylindrical larva which measures 0,28 of an inch, and has a yellowish head, and some- what darker tawny jaws. It is minutely wrinkled transversely, and sparsely covered with minute white bristles; the three segments next to the head being prominently swollen underneath and the bristles attached to them look very much like legs, and doubtless to some extent perform the functions of legs. This larva indeed bears a very close general resemblance to that of the Potato Stalk-weevil, illustrated at page 93, Figure 37 «, and when taken out of its gall immediately curls up as in that figure. During the latter part of June this larva transforms within the cane to a pupa, also greatly resembling that figured at 5, on page 93, with the exception that it is much smaller, and that the wings and legs reach down three-fourths the length of the body instead of but one-half as in that species. Two weeks after it has thus transformed it becomes a beetle belonging to the great Curculio family. This little Curculio was considered a new species by Dr. LeConte in 1861, and as it has not, so far as I am aware, been described since that time, I subjoin a more complete description of it. [. . . ]

I think it highly probable that the gall of the Grape-cane Curculio is caused more by the punctures which the female beetle makes in depositing her egg, than by the irritations of the larva; I have found the larva where it had burrowed two and three inches up the cane away from the gall, without its having caused a corresponding swelling; though this has always been in the one-year-old cane.

First annual report of the noxious, beneficial and other insects of the State of Missouri

Ampeloglypter sesostris

In his First Report as State Entomologist of Missouri, p. 131, Dr. C. V Riley describes this species under the name Madarus vitis, stating that the larva formed its gall in the Fall, pupating in June and developing to the adult about two weeks later. He therefor gave as a remedial and preventive measure the collecting and burning of infested canes during Winter. In the " American Entomologist," Vol. II, p. 10"). the same writer states that the galls first become visible towards the latter end of July, the larva- producing them wintering over within these galls, but not becoming full grown until the Spring of the following year, pupating during the latter part of June and in a couple of weeks developing to adults. On May 6, 1898, a lot of dried leaves were brought from a vineyard near the lake shore about Gypsum, O., where they had fallen the Autumn before and been blown by the winds into bunches along an Osage orange hedge, remaining there throughout the Winter and placed in a breeding cage in 1 lie insectary. From among these leaves adults of A sesostris began to appear May 23, and continued t do so in consider- able numbers for several days. On June 24 my assistant visited the vineyard Jfrom which the leaves had been taken, and found a large number of galls on the new growth of cane, and within these galls were larv;e of considerable size. The same vineyard was again visited by myself on August 11, when all stages of development ex- cept the egg were found within the galls, the larvae now being- all of them nearly or quite full grown, while some of the adults were observed in the act of making their way out from the galls. I visited this vineyard again on September 15, and could then find only a single pupa (), after long and patient searching, this being in a gall in the latter growth of cane, all other galls, except for parasites, being entirely empty. A later examination, made early in November, revealed not a single adult in the galls, but a solitary one (a, ft) was discov- ered among the fallen leaves, where it was probably in hiber- nation. In this series of observations it seems to me that we have conclusive proof that in Northern Ohio at least the species is single brooded, the adult wintering over among fallen leaves and other similar rubbish, coming forth in Spring in time to begin ovipositiou in the earliest growth of cane. The greater abundance of galls in the earlier growth of cane points to the fact that the adults are abroad in numbers, and ready to begin ovipositiou, as soon as there is sufficient growth of young cane to afford them the necessary nidus, and while the period of ovipositiou for the species in any one locality may be, and probably is, considerably protracted, though, as previously shown, the season of development is over by the first of October. 

From within the galls I have taken pup?e from which a par- asite, Catolaccus tylodermae, known to also attack the larva of Tylodermae foccolatum, was also reared. and also pupa; (g) of a small fly, Myiophasia aenea. Of three of these latter pupae, two gave me adult flies, while the third developed a secondary, hymenopterous parasite (i), Calyptus tibiator.

As the locality where these observations were made is fully three degrees of latitude north of St. Louis, Mo., it is quite possible that there may be a considerable difference in the habits of this species, and this seems all the more likely from the fact that while the climate along the lake shore is really milder in Winter than it is a few miles farther inland, vet the ice in the lake, in Spring, usually remains long- enough to delay the putting forth of the early growth of cane, and also tends to keep the insect longer in hibernation. It is also interesting to note that although the hibernating adults were placed under a comparatively high temperature, probably from 65 to 80 Fah., yet they did not bestir themselves until about the time when proper facilities for oviposition would be offered them in their native haunts. 

Ampeloglypter sesostris Lec.

A small, reddish brown weevil, the grape cane gall- maker, sometimes punctures with her snout the shoots of the grape, usually just above one of the lower joints; in this puncture an egg is placed and several additional punctures may be made above the first, but in these no eggs are deposited. The larva upon hatching feeds in the pith, burrowing up and down the shoot. When full grown the pupa stage is entered in the burrow, the beetle emerging in midsummer. As the shoot grows it becomes enlarged at the punctured place, resulting in a gall-like swelling about twice the diameter of the cane in thickness and one or two inches in length. The injured canes continue to grow and, unless broken by winds, little harm results. No practical methods of preventing injury by this insect have been developed and ordinarily its attack is of very little importance. 

Insect and fungous enemies of the grape east of the Rocky Mountains

Ampeloglypter sesostris Lec

About ten years ago this insect was made the subject of an investigation in Ohio, conducted by F. M. Webster, and the results were published as Bulletin ii6 of the Ohio Experiment Station. The bulletin gives the more essential facts in regard to the gall-maker and its habits, but since the publication of that paper a few additional points relative to the species have been observed in West Virginia. These observations, together with those already published, give us a fairly complete knowledge of the insect as it occurs in this section of the United States. Webster collected galls from grapecanes in June and kept them until the larvae which inhabited them transformed to beetles in August and September, thus showing that the adult stage is reached in late summer instead of in the spring;, as had been supposed previously. I was unable to duplicate this breeding work satisfactorily on account of the extent to which my specimens were parasitized. On the other hand, I watched the female on several occasions while she was engaged in egg-laying, an operation which I believe has not been described heretofore. Most of my observations on this species were made at French creek, W. Va., in the summer of 1905. where, at that time, the beetles were very abundant. Since 1905 but few specimens have been seen in that locality and examples of their work have been correspondingly scarce. 

The species was described by LeConte in 1876, from specimens collected in Missouri. Since that time it has been reported from Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other eastern, south-eastern and mid-western states.

The injury done to the vines by this insect is in the shape of gall-like growths that begin to develop on the new canes early in the summer. These galls are abrupt swellings of cane to something like twice its normal diameter, the enlargements being an inch or an inch and a half in length. The swelling is about uniform around the cane except that on one side there is a deep longitudinal scar from a half to three-fourths of an inch in length. This scar comes from a wound made by the female beetle in preparing a place to lay her egg. The gall is almost invariably located just above a joint of the cane. I examined several hundred of the galls and found only one in which the lower end was as much as an inch above a joint. The one exception was that of a gall located three- fourths of an inch below a joint. The cane on which this gall was found w^as being trained in a horizontal position and the gall occurred just below instead of just above the joint, evidently through an error on the part of the beetle that made the wound which caused the gall to form. Occasionally a single cane will bear four or five galls, and on one cane I found nine. Strange to say, the female nearly always selects the joints of the young cane beyond the last or outer bunch of fruit for her points of attack. Consequently, if an infested cane is bearing a bunch of fruit at each of the three joints nearest its base the galls will not appear at these joints, but the first one will be found not nearer to the base of the cane than just above the fourth joint. In several cases where canes were bearing but two bunches of fruit, galls were found at the third joint. This peculiarity was noticed so often that there seems little doubt that the female rejects the fruiting joints as being unsuitable places for her eggs to be deposited. Just why she should discriminate against the fruiting joints is not very clear.

The swelling of the cane at the point of injury begins soon after the wound is made, but the gall does not reach full size until six or eight weeks later. On vines of varieties that produce dark-colored fruit the bark and wood about the wound soon takes on a reddish-purple color. This discoloration does not occur on varieties that bear white or green fruit.

The presence of the galls appear to have but little effect on the growth and vigor of the cane. Occasionallv a cane that has no support will be broken by the wind or by its weight of leaves at the point of injury. In tying up the canes after pruning in the spring they will sometimes break more readily at the galls than elsewhere. In pruning vines affected with the galls this should be borne in mind and the canes on which no galls are found should, when possible, be preserved for fruiting.

Ampeloglypter sesostris Leconte

From Missouri to Ohio and West Virginia grape-canes are sometimes injured to a slight extent by the attacks of a reddish- brown weevil, the larva of which feeding in the cane just above one of the joints produces a swelling or gall from one to one and one half inches in length and about twice the diameter of the cane in thickness. The insect hibernates in the adult state under leaves or other suitable shelter. The weevils emerge from winter quarters in May and the female begins egg-laying as soon as the vines have made sufficient growth. 

For oviposition she usually selects a place directly above the lowest joint which does not bear a fruit cluster. She first bores a hole with her snout in the heart of the cane, deposits an egg in it and then fills the cavity with bits of bark fiber scraped from the surface of the cane. She then makes a row of eight to fourteen similar punctures directly above the first and fills them with fiber, but does not deposit an egg in any except the first. As the gall increases in size this row of punctures produces an ugly wound which does not heal as long as the gall is inhabited. 

The egg hatches in a week or ten days. The larva feeds principally on the pith, working its way up or down the cane for a considerable distance. When full-grown the larva is about two fifths inch in length, yellowish-white in color, with a brownish head and dark brown jaws. It becomes full-grown in eight or ten weeks, pupates within the gall and the beetles emerge in August. 

The injuries caused by this insect are never serious; affected canes, unless broken by the wind, continue to grow and are able to ripen their fruit as well as those not infested. The insect may be killed by cutting out and burning the infested canes during July and early August, but ordinarily it would not be worth the trouble involved. In vineyards sprayed with an arsenical in Bordeaux mixture in late May and June many of the beetles are doubtless poisoned.

Manual of fruit insects

Ampeloglypter sesostris

Vitis
Leaf or tendril galls [sic]
Irregular, oval cane galls, length 2 cm, diameter 1.5 mm.

Key to American Insect Galls

Ampeloglypter sesostris Lec.

The Grapecane Gall-maker is a small reddish-brown snout- beetle about one-eighth inch long, which lays its eggs in the canes, giving rise to galls about twice the diameter of the cane and 1 or 1.5 inches long, with a deep scar in one side. It has been noted as injurious in Ohio and West Virginia, and from the records seems to be generally distributed over the Eastern States, but is by no means a serious pest. 

Life History. The adult beetles appear in May and are gone by early July. They feed sparingly on the vine, making little pits in the tendrils, in the buds or bark of new canes or in the midribs on the underside of the leaves. The females soon lay their eggs and make the egg scars. These cause the galls and constitute practically the only injury to the vine. The eggs are laid just above a joint and beyond the outermost fruit, so that the injury does not interfere with the crop. A female eats out a small hole with her snout, in it lays a small yellowish-white egg, and fills up the hole with fibers scraped off from the surface of the cane. She then makes another hole immediately above this, but merely places a, drop of liquid in it and then fills it up with fibers in the same manner. Eight to a dozen holes are thus made in a row and filled. Very soon this wound causes a swelling of the vine, but the gall does not reach full size for six or eight weeks. On vines producing dark-colored fruit, the wood about the wound takes on a purplish color. The galls seem to have but little effect on the growth and vigor of the vine, except that the canes are more readily broken by the wind or in pruning. The larva is a little yellowish-white, footless grub about two-fifths inch long, which feeds about the egg-chamber and then burrows in the pith. It becomes full grown in eight to ten weeks, when it pupates within the burrow; the beetle emerges in late August, and hibernates over winter. 

As the scar in the side of the gall where the eggs were deposited remains open, a very large proportion of the larvae are subsequently parasitized by various chalcis, and tachina-flies, which will probably prevent the insect ever becoming much of a pest.

Ampeloglypter sesostris Lec.
Grape cane weevil

Vitis
Leaf or Tendril Galls
Oval cane galls, length 1 inch, beetle, summer

Plant Galls and Gall Makers

Ampeloglypter sesostris (Leconte)

The grape cane gallmaker, Ampeloglypter sesostris (Leconte), is a native weevil that infests new shoots of wild and cultivated grapes (Vitisspp.). Females oviposit on the tender portions of new shoots, producing a reddish gall that can expand the shoot to twice its normal diameter. These galls can be quite numerous in eastern vineyards, and their effects are unknown. We studied the spatial distribution of grape cane gallmaker and its impact on berry size, sugar content, and nutrient and mineral uptake. We observed spatial trends in grape cane gallmaker distribution in vineyards adjacent to woodland margins, with the trend emanating from the woodline. In vineyards without woodland margins, there was little spatial dependency in grape cane gallmaker distribution in individual years. However, grape cane gallmaker density on a single vine was spatially cross-correlated between 2 yr. The presence of galls did not significantly affect berry quality, or the uptake of nutrients and minerals, and we conclude that grape cane gallmaker does not negatively impact berry quality or mature vine vigor.

THE GRAPE CANE gallmaker, Ampeloglypter sesostris (Leconte), is a native weevil that infests new shoots of wild and commercially grown grapes (Vitis spp.) (Webster 1900, Brooks 1909). Adult grape cane gallmaker emerge in spring from the litter in which they overwinter and mate. Females proceed to oviposit on the tender portions of new grape shoots by excavating a deep puncture just distal to a node. In Concord variety grapes, this puncture nearly always occurs on a node distal to the last cluster-bearing node (Brooks 1909). A female deposits a single egg, '0.64 mm long, in the puncture, and using her mouthparts, scrapes a longitudinal groove above the ovipositional puncture and packs some of the removed plant material over the egg (Brooks 1909). Proceeding distally along the groove, the female excavates a series of punctures 1Ð2.5 cm long. After the completion of each puncture, a clear liquid droplet is deposited in the hole by means of a mock oviposition. 

The newly eclosed larva burrows directly to the pith of the shoot, where it completes larval and pupal development over a period of 6-8 wk. Damaged shoots respond by forming a reddish gall around the series of punctures, which can expand the shoot to twice its normal diameter (Brooks 1909). Galls retain an opening to permit adult emergence, and adults generally exit the grape shoot by burrowing out through the ovipositional furrow (Webster 1900). These galls can be quite numerous in eastern vineyards, and Brooks (1909) reported up to nine galls on one cane.