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How to Manage Pests
UC Pest Management Guidelines
Grape
Pacific Coast Wireworm (Click Beetle)
Scientific name: Limonius canus
(Reviewed 6/06,
updated 6/06)
In this Guideline:
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Adults of the Pacific Coast wireworm are about 0.5 inch (13 mm)
long, reddish brown to black, with a prothorax that has pointed posterior tips.
They are commonly known as click beetles because, if held, it will bend its
body backwards and then quickly straighten it to create an audible snap.
The larval stage of this
insect lives in the soil and is commonly referred to as a wireworm. Wireworms
have hard bodies that are slender, cylindrical yellowish to brown in color, and
about 0.75 inch long when full grown. It takes about 3 to 4 years for the
wireworm or click beetle to complete its live cycle. Most of the time is spent
in the larval stage, but all stages may be present at once. In grapes, the
larval stage is not considered a pest whereas the adult click beetle can be
damaging.
The click beetle can feed on buds in spring. The injury to the bud
looks essentially the same as that of the grape bud beetle. Unlike the grape
bud beetle and the cutworm, the click beetle is a day feeder. Overwintering in
the ground litter, it emerges in spring on warm days. Click beetles are often
seen in large numbers resting on cover crops during the day. Even with these
high populations in the vineyards, they seldom cause economic damage to grapes.
No material is registered for use on this pest; however, click
beetles usually occur in conjunction with cutworm infestations and it has been
observed that the spray materials used for cutworms also control click beetles.
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UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines: Grape
UC ANR Publication 3448
Insects and Mites
W. J. Bentley, UC IPM Program, Kearney Agricultural Research Center, Parlier
L. G. Varela, UC IPM Program, Sonoma County
F. G. Zalom, Entomology, UC Davis
R. J. Smith, UC Cooperative Extension, Sonoma County
A. H. Purcell, Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley
P. A. Phillips, UC IPM Program, Ventura County
D. R. Haviland, UC IPM Program, Kern County
K. M. Daane, Kearney Agricultural Research Center, Parlier
M. C. Battany, UC Cooperative Extension, San Luis Obispo County
Acknowledgment for contributions to Insects and Mites:
J. Granett, Entomology, UC Davis
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