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What insect came to America with German mercenaries?

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By Chelsie Vandaveer

September 12, 2001

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The Hessian fly (Mayetiola destructor) is a small creature. A fully grown adult is no larger than 3 millimeters and looks like a mosquito. But it is the tiny maggot that is responsible for the damage. In the U.S. alone, these maggots can cause $100 million in wheat crop losses.

Hessian fly maggots hide between the leaf sheath and the stalk. Here they bite into the stalk, feeding on the plant juices. Although the loss of the fluids weakens the plant, it is the maggots' saliva that ultimately destroys it. Toxins in the saliva change the growth habit of the wheat. Leaves already present do not elongate, the plant produces no new leaves, and its color turns a dark bluish-green. The wheat plant produces few, if any, grains. The stalk becomes brittle and breaks easily.

Battle of Saratoga, General Arnold Wounded in the Attack
on the Hessian Redoubt, 17th October 1777 Giclee Print
Buy Giclee Print at AllPosters.com

Hybridizers are continually breeding new varieties of wheat resistant to the Hessian fly. But Hessian flies mutate rapidly; continually adapting to these resistant strains. Farmers can only fight these flies by burning the fields, rotating crops, and timing their plantings carefully.

The Hessian fly was probably imported in the straw bedding used by troops during the Revolutionary War. These insects were named for the highly disciplined German mercenaries hired by the British. Of the 30,000 Hessians hired to fight against us; 7,000 were killed and at least 5,000 stayed to become citizens.

The Department of Entomology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has excellent photographs of the life stages of Mayetiola destructor. To view these photographs, click on the link:

http://entomology.unl.edu/images/smgrains/Hessnfly/hessnfly.htm

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