Insect Pests of Fruits, Plantation, Medicinal & Aromatic Crops

8. Leaf mining weevil

8. Leaf mining weevil Rhychaenus mangiferae Marshl.(Curculionidae : Coleoptera)

Damage

• The grub mines into the tender leaves while the adult weevil scrapes the leaf surface. In severe cases leaves crumble and dry up.
Bionomics

• The adult weevil is brown with enlarged hind femur. It lays eggs singly within minute holes bitten on the lower side of tender leaves.
• The egg period is 2-3 days.
• The grub mines the leaves and pupates in an oval chamber within the mine.
• The larval and pupal periods are 5.5 and 3.33 days respectively.
• The total life cycle takes about 12 days for oviposition.