Have been seeing white-lined burrower bugs crawling around, in large numbers, a few peanut fields but mostly cotton fields with volunteer peanuts. These are not considered pests in these crops. Their populations will decrease as we enter the summer. Lots of mortality in this insect can already be seen – most likely due to lack of weed hosts and seed treatments.

In a timely update Dr. Mark Abney, UGA Peanut Entomologist, posted just the other day:

“Several folks have contacted me this week about large numbers of white-lined (aka white-margined) burrower bugs. Most of the bugs have been on volunteer peanuts, but some were on cotton seedlings. This insect is not the ‘peanut burrower bug’ and is not considered a pest of peanut. While it can be very abundant early in the season, it is rarely seen in large numbers later in the summer. In the past, most of the white-lined burrower bug calls have come in April, so the bugs seem to be a little late this year. Here is a link to a 2018 UGA Peanut Entomology blog post about the white-lined burrower bug: https://site.extension.uga.edu/peanutent/2018/04/dont-be-alarmed-by-the-white-lined-burrower-bug/

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