Management of Mexican bean beetle, Epilachna varivestis Mulsant, in snap beans using cultural management strategies

Mexican bean beetle (MBB), Epilachna varivestis Mulsant, is a serious pest of snap beans, Phaseolus vulgaris, throughout the mid-Atlantic United States.  The goal of our research is to gain a better understanding of MBB ecology to aid in the development of cultural management strategies.  In 2013, a life-table field experiment was conducted to measure differences in developmental success of MBB among common green beans, purple Dutch wax beans, yellow wax beans, and lima beans.  Life-table data revealed that MBB deposited as many or more eggs on lima beans as deposited on green, purple or yellow bean varieties (p < .05).  However, significantly fewer early instars, late instars and pupae of MBB were found in lima beans than on green, purple or yellow bean varieties (p < .05).   These results suggest that MBB mortality is significantly higher on lima beans, which may enable the use of that crop as a trap crop for MBB within certain snap bean systems.