The occurrence of Blissus antillus Leonard was registered in Tangola pasture (hybrid between Tanner grass Brachiaria arrecta (syn. B. radicans) and Angola grass, B. mutica) in Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil, in March 1996. Population, averaging 582 chinch bugs per m² in this area, caused extensive damage killing most of the grass. Since 1975, occurrence and damage caused by chinch bugs in Brazil, have been associated with B. leucopterus (Say), also found almost exclusively in Tangola and Tanner grass. The fact that grain crop like maize, for instance, has not been damaged by this insect, even when planted adjacent to highly infested Tangola grass, raises the question whether B. leucopterus indeed occurs in Brazil.
Insecta; Chinch bugs; Tangola grass; Tanner grass