Tests were made to determine if apparent feeding differences observed in the field between adult western corn rootworms (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera LeConte, and northern corn rootworms (NCR), D. longicornis (Say), actually exist. Beetles were collected from corn plants and weeds in northeast Nebraska cornfields, and the gut contents examined and identified. Several significant feeding differences were demonstrated between species and between sexes within species: gut contents contained different proportions of corn leaf tissue, corn pollen, corn silks, weed pollen, fungal spores, and gregarine sporonts. The NCR fed more extensively on pollens of other plants in addition to corn than did the WCR. A higher percentage of WCR contained gregarine sporonts than did the NCR and more males of each species contained sporonts than did females. Gut contents indicate that males are more mobile within a field than females.
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Ludwig et al. (1975) studied this question.