Comparison of Cucurbit Cultivars as Hosts and Description of a Technique for Rearing the Striped Cucumber Beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

A series of cucurbit cultivars were compared as hosts for rearing Acalymma vittatum (F.) larvae. Cultivars were tested by using A. vittatum rearing techniques, with comparisons based on adult production, mean emergence date, and plant survival. 'Improved Warted Hubbard' and 'Table Queen Ebony Acorn' squash cultivars proved to be the best of the 12 cultivars compared. Use of a combination of five cultivars for mass production provided 60,000 adults and over 4,000,000 eggs for field research during 1982. The rearing procedure described offers vast improvement in both time and cost efficiency over previous techniques for rearing the insect.