ABSTRACT
Fred Weasley, Paula’s neighbor, returns to see her about another problem. It seems that his mother has a question about another pest of tomatoes. Just when the Godfather larvae seem to be under control, her select crop of tomatoes grown and sold for canning is under attack by a subspecies of the Texas leafcutting ant (Atta texana [Buckley])—the tomato stem cleaver (A. texana severalis [Amputeé]). Once the larvae start to chew on the stem, the tomato drops the fruit 6 hours later. The problem would be minimal if the fruit were ripe, but green tomatoes, while tasty, are not the intended crop.
