Lethal effect of blue light on strawberry leaf beetle, Galerucella grisescens (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Abstract

Abstract In a previous study, we found that blue-light irradiation kills insects such as fruit flies, mosquitos, and flour beetles. However, the lethal effects of blue light on coleopteran field crop pests have not been investigated. Chrysomelidae, a major family in phytophagous beetles, includes many species of crop pests. We investigated the lethal effect of blue light on chrysomelid beetles by examining the mortality of the strawberry leaf beetle Galerucella grisescens irradiated with different wavelengths of blue light during the non-mobile egg or pupal stage by using light-emitting diodes. Fifty to seventy percent of beetles irradiated with 407, 417, 438, or 465-nm lights at 15 × 1018 photons·m−2·s−1 during the egg stage died before hatching; ca. 90% of hatchlings irradiated with 438-nm light during the egg stage died before eclosion; and 35–55% of beetles irradiated with 407, 417, 454, and 465-nm lights at the same intensity during the pupal stage died before eclosion. Field crop pests are considered to have high tolerance to blue light because they are usually exposed to sunlight in their natural habitats. However, this study suggests that blue light can kill some field crop as well as household insect pests.