Hello all, I am an entomology masters student at Virginia Tech and will be working on a project involving Mexican bean beetle, *Epilachna varivestis, *phenology, distribution and limiting factors in snap beans. The primary motive of this project is to better understand why this coccinellid, which is a pest of nearly all legumes, was once a very significant, if not the most significant, pest of snap and soy beans throughout the East and Mid-west and is now rarely found in the majority of the regions where is use to thrive (at least here in Virginia and North Carolina).
A few questions: 1. Who has this beetle currently? What are the details of the farming system in which it occurs (*specific location*, organic or conventional pest management, region, hardiness zone, relative altitude or general topography, precipitation, etc.) as much info as you can or care to give. 2. Did you have it historically, but not any more? What years was it a problem, when did it stop being a problem? 3. Is the beetle significant (i.e. does it reduce yields enough to justify taking action)? 4. Does it occur every year? 5. What crops does it attack and does it have any noticeable preferences (i.e. moves from snaps to limas once snaps are cut)? Thank you all very much for taking the time to provide this information. Sincerely, Louie
