Cigarette beetle
Cigarette beetle
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Cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne (Anobiidae: Coleoptera)
- Hosts: cocoa, tobacco dried cassava, black and red pepper, ginger, turmeric, dried fruits and vegetables, chilli powder, spices, etc.
Nature of damage:
- Grubs are damaging
- Make small cylindrical galleries
- Adults feed very little
- The larvae are very active and move and bore into the commodity.
Identification:
- Adult beetles are stout, oval, 2.0- 2.5 mm, light brown
- The elytra are smooth with very short hairs
- The antennae are about half the length of body with fourth to tenth segments as serrate
- When disturbed the adults conceals its head under the large pronotum
- The grubs are white and scarabaeiform.
Life history:
- Each female lay100-110 eggs
- Generally 4-6 larval instars
- Larval period is 30-35 days
- Adults live for 2-4 weeks
- Adults do not feed.
Salient features
- Eggs are laid closely on the commodity.
- On hatching the larvae often eat their egg shells
- They move more deep into the loosely packed commodities than tightly packed commodities
- Pupation takes place in fragments of attacked commodity and waste material by making pupal cells
- Adults are active fliers and fly freely in the evening and night.
2. Drug store beetle, Stegobium paniceum (Anobiidae: Coleopteran)
- Hosts: chocolate, confectionary, biscuits, dried fruits and vegetables and spices.
Nature of damage:
- Grubs damage by making small cylindrical galleries through the commodities
- Adults fed very little
- Larvae are quite active and move around or bore into the commodity.
Identification:
- It is similar to cigarette beetle in appearance but can be distinguished by its antennae.
- In Stegobium the last three segments form a large loosely segmented club.
- The elytra have longitudinal striae which are also present in Lasioderma
Life history:
- The biology of this pest is similar to Lasioderma except that Lasioderma serricorne performs better at higher temperature and grows more rapidly than does S. paniceum.
3. Almond moth: Ephestia (Cadra) cautella (Phycitidae: Lepidoptera)
Nature of damage:
- Damage is caused by the larvae
- Feed on the germ portion of grains leaving east of the kernel undamaged
- They form webs on the top layer of grains, storage bags, etc.
Identification:
- Moths are about 13 mm
- Wing expanse of 20-25 cm
- Wings are dirty white to grayish in colour with indistinct black bands about 4mm from the head
- Larvae are grayish white, hairy with dark brown head with two dark areas on the first segment behind the head
Life history
- Females lay 200-250 eggs
- Oviposition period is 3-4 days
- Matured larva spin silken cocoon at the junction of two overlapping edges of staked bags
- Adults emerge by breaking the cocoon and live for about 14 days
Salient features
- Females lay eggs in grains exposed through sampling spots in jute bags
- Caterpillars are quite active and feed voraciously on embryo of seed
- Before pupation large number of wandering larvae trail behind silken threads
- The optimum conditions for development are 28-30°C with RH above 70%.
- Below 15°C and RH 50% or less the development is practically stopped.
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Last modified: Saturday, 3 March 2012, 9:02 AM