View source for Biology:Cavelerius saccharivorus

{{Short description|Species of insect}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = ''Cavelerius saccharivorus''
| image =
| taxon = Cavelerius saccharivorus
| authority = (Okajima, 1922)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gd.eppo.int/taxon/CAVESA|title=Cavelerius saccharivorus (CAVESA)|accessdate=July 2, 2023|website=EPPO Global Database}}</ref>
| synonyms = ''Blissus saccharivorus''<ref name=Schaefer167/><br>''Ischnodemus saccharivorus''<ref name=Schaefer167/><br>''Macropes excavatus''<ref name=Schaefer167/>
}}

'''''Cavelerius saccharivorus''''', also known as the '''oriental chinch bug''', is a small Asian  true bug in the order [[Biology:Hemiptera|Hemiptera]] and family [[Biology:Blissidae|Blissidae]].<ref name=cat>{{Catalogue of Life 
     |id=RXW8
     |title=Cavelerius saccharivorus (Okajima, 1922)
     |option=
     |access-date= 3 July 2023
}}</ref> It feeds by sucking the sap out of the stems of grasses and grass-like plants, including rice plants and [[Biology:Sugarcane|sugarcane]]. ''Cavelerius saccharivorus'' is notorious for the damage it wrought to sugarcane plantations in Japan, China, and Taiwan in the early 20th century, from which it derives its Latin name ''saccharivorus'', meaning "sugar-eater". Even today, the insect is still listed as one of the 100 most economically-devastating invasive species to Japan by the Ecological Society of Japan.

The English name "oriental chinch bug" derives from the insect's visual similarity to the "true chinch bug" (''[[Biology:Blissus leucopterus|Blissus leucopterus]]'') found in North America, which is likewise a major agricultural pest and also a member of family ''[[Biology:Blissidae|Blissidae]]''. The name "chinch bug" originally derives from the Spanish ''{{lang|es|chinche}}'', which refers to the bed bug and is in turn derived from the Latin ''cimex''. Chinch bugs are not related to the bed bug, but took this name on account of producing a similar smell to that of bed bugs when crushed.<ref name="OED">{{cite web
|title=chinch, n.{{sup|''1''}}
|website=Oxford English Dictionary on-line
|access-date=16 December 2014
|url=http://www.oed.com/
}}</ref>

==Identification==
Adult examples of ''C. saccharivorus'' measure 7-8 millimeters long. The body color is glossy black, and the legs and the first antenna segments are yellowish brown. There is a black spot in the center of each wing.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gao|first1=Cuiqing|last2=Zhou|first2=Yu|title=Review of the genus ''Cavelerius'' (Heteroptera: Blissidae) with descriptions of three new species from China and Southeast Asia|journal=Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae|volume=61|number=1|date=2021|page=121}}</ref>

==Origin and spread==
''C. saccharivorus'' is believed to have originated in Taiwan.<ref name=Schaefer167>{{cite book|last1=Schaefer|first1=Carl W.|last2=Panizzi|first2=Antonio Ricardo|title=Heteroptera of Economic Importance|year=2000|publisher=CRC Press|page=167}}</ref> The insect suddenly appeared simultaneously in several parts of Japan, including Okinawa, Kagoshima prefecture, Miyazaki prefecture, and Tanegashima in the 1910s, likely due to the rapid growth of the sugar industry and the circulation of different cultivars of sugarcane.<ref name=Schaefer167/> The species proved impossible to eradicate, despite mass burnings of infested sugarcane plantations at the behest of the Japanese government. In recent decades, ''C. saccharivorus'' has been found on sugarcane plants in Jiangxi province in China, about 300 miles inland from the Taiwan Strait.<ref name=Schaefer167/>

==Control==
An important biological agent for controlling populations of the ''C. saccharivorus'' is the parasitic wasp ''Eumicrosoma blissae'', which lays a single egg inside an egg laid by ''C. saccharivorus''.<ref name=Schaefer169>{{cite book|last1=Schaefer|first1=Carl W.|last2=Panizzi|first2=Antonio Ricardo|title=Heteroptera of Economic Importance|year=2000|publisher=CRC Press|page=169}}</ref> Field studies where the wasp is present have found an over 50% parasitism rate.<ref name=Schaefer169/> Other means of control include organic and inorganic pesticides, with mixed results.<ref name=Schaefer170>{{cite book|last1=Schaefer|first1=Carl W.|last2=Panizzi|first2=Antonio Ricardo|title=Heteroptera of Economic Importance|year=2000|publisher=CRC Press|page=170}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q7779251}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavelerius saccharivorus}}
[[Category:Blissidae]]

{{Sourceattribution|Cavelerius saccharivorus}}