Grape Cane Gridler – Ampheloglypter ater

Grape Cane Gridler (Ampheloglypter ater)

Latin Name: Ampheloglypter ater

Common Name: Grape Cane Gridler

Appearance:

• The eggs are 0.7mm long, elliptical, and off-white. It was discovered in a hollow between two girdles on terminal shoot development.
• The adult is a 1/8-inch long black snout beetle. Larvae are legless and whitish with a brown head. Found inside terminals of withering shoots.
• The grub is somewhat bigger, white with a brown head, and legless when fully developed. It resembles the similarly related grape cane gall maker in appearance.

Host plants: Hosts include grape and Virginia creeper.

Territory: throughout the midwestern and eastern United States.

Damage caused by Grape Cane Gridler:

Larval feeding causes shoots to break off or eventually die just below the egg cavity. When the adult female girdles the young shoots, the terminal growth bends over above the top girdle and falls to the ground. The contaminated shoot eventually dies back to the lower girdle and falls off the vine. The real damage, on the other hand, is generally small. Unless fruit-producing nodes are close to the shoot tips, girdling the terminal growth has little or no influence on the yield.

Life history and Habits:

The grape cane girdler is a little black weevil around 3 mm in length. Its harm may appear serious, yet it is little. Adults spend the winter in-ground trash. The female encircles a stalk with a series of punctures formed with her mouthparts in late May, generally before flowering. In these holes, eggs are laid. She then fashions a similar girdle in the cane but slightly higher without the eggs. The grubs feed on the pith of the cane, and both wounded parts of the cane may break off (usually at the outer girdle first). It takes roughly a month for larvae to develop. In July, larvae pupate and adults emerge in late July and August. Virginia creeper undergoes development as well.