wire·worm

(wīr′wûrm′)

1. The yellowish hard-bodied larva of various click beetles that feeds on the roots and seedlings of many crop plants.

2. Any of various millipedes.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

wireworm

(ˈwaɪəˌwɜːm)

(Animals) the wormlike larva of various elaterid beetles, which feeds on the roots of many crop plants and is a serious agricultural pest

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

wire•worm

(ˈwaɪ^ərˌwɜrm)

n.

1. any of the slender, hard-bodied larvae of click beetles, many of which live underground and feed on the roots of plants.

2. any of various small millipedes.

[1780–90]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

wireworm - wormlike larva of various elaterid beetles; feeds on roots of many crop plants

Elateridae, family Elateridae - click beetles and certain fireflies

larva - the immature free-living form of most invertebrates and amphibians and fish which at hatching from the egg is fundamentally unlike its parent and must metamorphose

Translations

wireworm

[ˈwaɪəwɜːm] N → gusano m de elatérido

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

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References in periodicals archive

Cherry & Raid (1999) found that it took 7 times as much chemical to kill wireworms in a muck soil versus a sandy soil.

Effectiveness of reduced rates of insecticides for the control of Melanotus communis (Coleoptera: Elateridae) in sugarcane

You've seen the unwanted posters: aphids, caterpillars, vine weevil, slugs, carrot fly, whitefly, wireworms, red spider mite and leatherjackets, to name but a few.

Gardening: The good, bad and the bugly; YOUR GARDEN GUIDE YOUR GARDEN GUIDE

The holes in your potatoes may have been caused by wireworms, the larvae of click beetles, which live in the soil and tunnel into the tubers of potatoes and carrots.

Gardening: Jobs for the week

In the soil, these nematodes hunt down borers, root weevils, cutworms, beetle larvae, cabbage roots maggots, wireworms, and much more.

Sleeping with the enemy: managing beneficial bugs in your garden

Wireworms in Florida are primarily a pest in newly planted sugarcane where the larvae attack the underground portions of the plant by feeding on the buds and root primordia during germination and on shoots and roots after germination.

Abundance and spatial distribution of wireworms (Coleoptera: Elateridae) in Florida sugarcane fields on muck versus sandy soils

ADRIENNE SAYS: The problem is wireworms, the long, thin, shiny grubs of the click beetle that feed on the roots and underground stems of plants, including potatoes.

It's a real snip to get fresh flowers all the year round

A SIMPLE trick to catch wireworms and other burrowing grubs is to put small pieces of carrot or potato on sticks under ground close to crops.

GARDENING

Currently, the seasonal population dynamics of wireworms in Florida sugarcane are not known.

Seasonal population dynamics of wireworms (Coleoptera: Elateridae) in Florida sugarcane fields

Watch out for wireworms when you're digging your soil.

SO WHO SAID YOUR GRASS HAS GOT TO BE GREEN?

Your best plan is to dig over the potato patch and let the birds and frost get at the wireworms.

Ready, steady, sow...for darling buds in May!; GARDENING

Ground beetles (family Carabidae) are common predators of many different insects and other arthropods, including fly eggs, caterpillars, wireworms, and others [10].

Diversity and composition of beetles (order: Coleoptera) of Durgapur, West Bengal, India

The majority of species have been observed as primarily predatory feeding on other insects and related organisms; they capture and consume a wide assortment of soil dwelling insects, including caterpillars, wireworms, maggots, ants, aphids and slug (Kromp, 1999).

Biodiversiy of Ground Beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) From District Poonch, Azad Kashmir