Comparative assessment of feeding damage by pod-sucking bugs (Heteroptera: Coreoidea) associated with cowpea, Vigna unguiculata ssp. unguiculata in Nigeria.

Feeding trials were conducted on three (young, mid-fill and mature) developmental stages of cowpea Vigna unguiculata ssp. unguiculata pods in the screenhouse using fourth instar nymphs and adults of Anoplocnemis curvipes (Fabricius), Riptortus dentipes (Fabricius), Mirperus jaculus (Thunberg), Clavigralla tomentosicollis Stål and C. shadabi Dolling. Anoplocnemis curvipes was observed to be the most damaging coreoid species causing a yield reduction of 26.4-51.7% followed by R. dentipes (24.4-29.4%), M. jaculus (21.9-26.9%), C. tomentosicollis (17.9-22.4%) and C. shadabi (15.9-20.4%). The fourth instar nymphs of each pod-sucking bug species caused a significantly higher cowpea yield reduction than their respective adults. Similarly, infestation on young pods compared to mid-fill and mature stages resulted in significantly higher yield reduction. The results suggest that infestation levels of two fourth instar nymphs of A. curvipes or three fourth instar nymphs of the other four pod-sucking bug species per young pod should be adequate for screening of cowpea varieties for resistance to the coreoid bugs.