Мақта қоңызы: Сипаттамасы және салдары

Species of beetle

The boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) is a species of beetle in the family Curculionidae. The boll weevil
feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central Mexico, it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19th century and had infested all U. S. cotton growing areas by the 1920s, devastating the industry and the people working in the American South. During the late 20th century, it became a serious pest in South America as well. Since 1978, the Boll Weevil Eradication Program in the U. S. allowed full scale cultivation to resume in many regions.

The adult insect has a long snout, a grayish color, and is usually less than in length.

Adult weevils overwinter in well drained areas in or near cotton fields, and farms after diapause. They emerge and enter cotton fields from early spring through midsummer, with peak emergence in late spring, and feed on immature cotton bolls. The boll weevil lays its eggs inside buds and ripening bolls (fruits) of the cotton plants. The female can lay up to 200 eggs over a 10 to 12 day period. The oviposition leaves wounds on the exterior of the flower bud. The eggs hatch in 3 to 5 days within the cotton squares (larger buds before flowering), feed for 8 to 10 days, and then pupate. The pupal stage lasts another 5 to 7 days. The lifecycle from egg to adult spans about three weeks during the summer. Under optimal conditions, 8 to 10 generations per season may occur. Boll weevils begin to die at temperatures at or below Research at the University of Missouri indicates they cannot survive more than an hour at The insulation offered by leaf litter, crop residues, and snow may enable the beetle to survive when air temperatures drop to these levels. Other limitations on boll weevil populations include extreme heat and drought. The weevil's natural predators include fire ants, other insects, spiders, birds, and a parasitoid wasp, Catolaccus grandis. The weevils sometimes emerge from diapause before cotton buds are available.

The Library of Congress American Memory Project contains a number of oral history materials on the boll weevil's impact. It devastated black Americans disproportionately because most were directly financially dependent on cotton as a cash crop. Because they were more likely to labor as tenant farmers or sharecroppers on cotton plantations in the Southern United States the epicenter of the Boll Weevil infestation, Black Farmers, suffered disproportionately. Additionally, Government intervention such as the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, resulted in the abandonment and loss of cropland for Black Farmers. By 1922 it was taking 8% of the cotton in the country annually. This failure of the south's primary crop became a major impetus for the Great Migration of the time, although not the only one. Thereby it was one of the factors in the birth of the Harlem Renaissance including the culture of the Cotton Club. A 2009 study found "that as the weevil traversed the American South [in the period 1892 1932], it seriously disrupted local economies, significantly reduced the value of land (at this time still the most important asset in the American South), and triggered substantial intraregional population movements." A 2020 Journal of Economic History study found that the boll weevil spread between 1892 and 1922 had a beneficial impact on educational outcomes, as children were less likely to work on cultivating cotton. A 2020 NBER paper found that the boll weevil spread contributed to fewer lynchings, less Confederate monument construction, less KKK activity, and higher non white voter registration. The boll weevil infestation has been credited with bringing about economic diversification in the Southern US, including the expansion of peanut cropping. The citizens of Enterprise, Alabama, erected the Boll Weevil Monument in 1919, perceiving that their economy had been overly dependent on cotton, and that mixed farming and manufacturing were better alternatives.