In 1988 our weather was much hotter and drier than usual. Colorado potato beetles were numerous on tomatoes and voracious. A suitable insecticide eliminated most of them during the warm weather. In mid-October, in about one acre of stabilized and segregating genetic material, the only plants noticed to have beetles were "Wooly" ones - primarily Wo^MZ^. Usually these plants harbored 3 to 10 adult beetles which had been feeding. A similar differential infestation had also been noticed in 1987.
Rick (TGC 26:15) reported that the gene combination Ln-Wo^M^ did not completely discourage horn worms or pink potato aphids but he did not indicate that they were attracted to the plants. Wo^MZ^ arose as a mutation in VF145-7879 (Rick, TGC 29:32). This cultivar has not been noticed to be particularly susceptible to potato beetles in our trials. Possibly a low alycoalkaloid content is a pleiotropic effect of Wo^MZ^ as is the situation with anthocyanin free, af. I do not have the facilities to investigate this phenomenon further.