Biology and damage of the tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris, in cotton

Tarnished plant bug (TPB), Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois), is a key pest of cotton in many states. Although this pest can damage cotton throug hout most of the growing season, economic damage is most likely to occur du ring the period from first square through early bloom due to feeding on sma ll squares and subsequent abscission of these squares. During this period, excessive damage by high TPB populations may result in reduced yields or de layed maturity. However, current research suggests that cotton can tolerate low levels of TPB damage without sustaining yield loss. Most states recomm end monitoring both numbers of insects and percent square retention in orde r to obtain information on which to base TPB management decisions. The rela tive importance of TPB as a key pest of cotton is increasing due to a numbe r of changes in cotton insect management systems. These include: developmen t of insecticide resistance in TPB, boil weevil eradication, transgenic Bt cotton, and the development and availability of more target-specific foliar -applied insecticides.