Observations on egg-laying behaviour of the banana weevil,Cosmopolites sordidus (Germar) |
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Authors: | A M Koppenhfer |
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Institution: | (1) The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), P. O. Box 30772, Nairobi, Kenya;(2) Present address: Department of Nematology, University of California, 95616-8668 Davis, CA, USA |
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Abstract: | Banana weevil females laid on an average 2.7 eggs/week in rhizome material and 0.7 eggs/week in pseudostem material in the
laboratory. At extremely high weevil population densities the egg-laying activity declined. Under controlled field conditions
0.7 eggs/week were laid in banana suckers and 1.3 eggs/week in stumps of harvested suckers. 25% of the weevil stages found
in suckers in the field were eggs of which 78% were laid in the rhizome and 22% in the pseudostem base. The majority of eggs
was deposited in the crown area of the rhizome followed by the remaining surface area of the rhizome, the walls of abandoned
larval tunnels in rhizome and pseudostem and the leaf sheaths. 58% of the eggs found were considered accessible to egg predators. |
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Keywords: | banana weevil Cosmopolites sordidus ferility egg-laying sites egg predators |
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