Population Assessment During the Adult Stage of the Alfalfa Blotch Leafminer, \u3ci\u3eAgromyza Frontella\u3c/i\u3e (Diptera: Agromyzidae)

This paper presents a sampling procedure for estimating adult populations of the alfalfa blotch leafminer, Agromyza frontella (Rondani). The method is based on counts of the flies as they emerge from the soil following adult metamorphosis, taken in a series offurmel traps. Analysis of sampling variability showed that 80 traps per field will give adequate precision for life table studies in alfalfa. The pattern of counts was overdispersed but conformed to the negative binomial distribution