乐生活Today, we will introduce a common pest in sweet potato field, Cylas formicarium, nicknamed "Sweet potato elephant" and "Sweet potato elephant". Adults are 5-7.9 mm long, narrow and somewhat like ants. The terminal antennae, forechest and feet are reddish-brown to orange-red. Others are blue-black, with metallic luster. The nose of an elephant is stretched out in front of the head. The name of the ant elephant comes from this. Their hind wings are wide and thin. The feet are slender and the legs are nearly rodlike. The egg is white to yellowish-white, oval, thin shell, with small concave surface.
Adults overwinter mostly under potato blocks, tuber stalks, dead leaves, weeds, soil cracks and rubble, while larvae and pupae overwinter in potato blocks and vines. Adults can move or feed day and night. During the day, they like to hide on the back of leaves to harm veins, leaves, stems and vines, and some hide in cracks to harm tuber stalks and crawl on the ground at night.
The ant elephant is mainly distributed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Taiwan, Hunan and other places. The hosts of adult larvae are different. The hosts of adult larvae are sweet potato, sand rattan, water spinach, five-clawed Golden Dragon and so on. The main hosts of larvae are thick stems and tubers of sweet potato and sand rattan.
Sources: kknews.cc, gaga.biodiv.tw
