A new, open-access article in the Journal of Integrated Pest
Management provides a review of cereal leaf beetle biology, past
and present management practices, and current research being
conducted. Cereal leaf beetle, Oulema melanopus L., is an
introduced insect pest of small grains first recorded in the
United States in the early 1960s. Since its introduction from
Europe or Asia into Michigan, cereal leaf beetle has rapidly
spread and can now be found in most states. Cereal leaf beetle
feeds on numerous species of grasses and is considered a major
pest of oats, barley, and wheat. Although several studies have
investigated cereal leaf beetle biology and population dynamics,
numerous gaps remain in understanding the mechanisms that
influence its spread and distribution, which makes predicting
pest outbreaks difficult. Because of the difficulty in
predicting when and where pest outbreaks will occur many growers
in the southeast apply insecticides on a calendar basis rather
than using a threshold-based integrate