Insect pests

INSECT PESTS OF STORED GRAINS AND PULSES
NIRBHAY SUDHIR PIMPLE
DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY
ABASAHEB GARWARE COLLEGE
KARVE ROAD PUNE-4.

nirbhay.pimplae@mesagc.org/zoologgy

STORED ENTOMOLOGY - THE STUDY OF THE INSECT PESTS OF
STORED GRAINS AND PULSES IS CALLED STORAGE ENTOMOLOGY.

THESE ARE OF TWO TYPES:
• Primary Insect Pests
or Internal Feeders
which can damage
all kinds of stored
grains
o Attack whole grains
o Larvae feed and
develop within the
kernel
• Secondary Insect Pests or
External Feeders that
attack only the broken
kernel or milled
grains(Feed on grain dust)
o Can not damage whole
grain
o Follow internal feeders, i.e.
damaged grain
o Grain in poor condition,
microbial activity.

TWO TYPES OF INSECTS :
Beetles
Moths

SOME OF THE PESTS ARE :
BEETLES :
Pulse Beetle
(Callosobruchus maculatus)
Rice Weevil (Sitophilus
oryza)
Wheat Weevil (Trogoderma
granarium)
Rust Red Flour Beetle
(Tribolium castaneum)
Lesser Grain Borer
(Rhizopertha dominica)
MOTH :
Rice Moth (Corcyra
caphalonica)

PULSE BEETLE (CALLOSOBRUCHUS MACULATUS) :

SYSTEMATIC POSITION
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Chrysomelidae
Genus: Callosobruchus
Species: C. maculatus

First reported from china in
1758
cosmopolitan distribution,
occurring on every continent
except Antarctica

FEEDS ON :
It is a serious pest of stored
grain as well as standing crop
in the fields.
Feeds on pulses (cowpea or
mung dal) or gram.
It also attacks practically all
other pulses.

LIFE HISTORY :
Complete
metamorphosis
Egg  Larva
(Grub) 
Pupa  Adult.
• Chewing type
of mouthparts.

Female lays clear, small, whitish
eggs shiny, oval to spindle-shaped,
and about 0.75 millimeters long,
singly on the stored seeds of the
uppermost layer or on the green
pods in a field.
Slender grubs emerge in 4-7 days.

They bore into the seeds or pods,
feed voraciously and become full
grown in 2-3 weeks in summer.
Full grown grub is 6mm. long,
white, fleshy, heavily wrinkled
creature.
Grub pupates within the seed .

The pupa is an oval, white structure.
Pupation takes about 4 days in summer,
longer in winter.
The adults come out by cutting a
circular hole in the cover and shift to the
uppermost layers of the seeds.
They copulate immediately after
emergence and female starts laying eggs
the next day.

The life span of the adult varies
from 5 to 20 days according to the
climatic conditions.
There are 7 to 8 overlapping
generation in a year.
Larva hibernates in winter.
The pulse beetle have tendency to
shift to the fields after a few
generation in the godowns.

GENERAL APPEARANCE :
The adult pulse beetle is a chocolate
colored insect, about 3mm. long and
also has two black spots.
It has relatively small head with blunt
rostrum, long antenna with serrated
inner margin, distinct prothorax with
two white prominences, elytra not
fully covering the last abdominal
segment.

The beetle is sexually dimorphic and
males are easily distinguished from
females.
The females are sometimes larger than
males, but this is not true of all strains.
 Females are darker overall, while males
are brown.
The plate covering the end of the
abdomen is large and dark in color along
the sides in females, and smaller without
the dark areas in males.

DAMAGE :
C. maculatus is a serious pest of
stored grain as well as standing crops
in the field.
The grubs bore into the seeds and are
mainly responsible for the damage.
Maximum damage occurs during
April to October.
Entire contents of the seeds are
consumed, leaving only testa behind.

The intensity of infestation
depends on humidity and
temperature.
Infested seeds become unfit for
human consumption.
One or more circular holes
about 1mm. wide in the seeds
mark the exist of the grubs and
indicate infestation.

RICE WEEVIL (SITOPHILUS ORYZA)

SYSTEMATIC POSITION
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Curculionidae
Subfamily: Dryophthorinae
Genus: Sitophilus
Species: S. oryzae

All over the world.
It is native of India and
a serious pest of rice
here.

Feed on rice grains, less
commonly on wheat and maize
grains.
Only skin of the grain is left
behind.

Complete
metamorphosis
 Egg  Larva
(Grub)  Pupa
 Adult.
Chewing type of
mouthparts.

The female weevil lays glistening, oval, whitish
eggs measuring 0.66X0.3 mm. from April to
October in 1mm. deep holes in the grains made
with mandibles.
Generally one egg is deposited in one grain, 2-6
eggs per day and up to 300 over their lifetime.
After laying, the hole is plugged with a gelatinous
secretion.
Small, white, fleshy, legless larvae, called grubs,
emerge in just 4 days in warm and in 6 to 9 days
in cold months.

The grubs burrow deeper, where they
feed and become full grown (5mm.
long) in 19 to 34 days.
They pupate within the grain for 6 to
14 days.
The pupa is at first dirty white, but later
becomes dark brown.
The adult weevils start breeding as
soon as they emerge from the grains.

They live for 4 to 5 months.
A single female lays about 250
eggs during her life 5 to 6
broods.
A complete life cycle takes
about a month.
The duration of various stages
varies with the weather
conditions, especially humidity

Adult rice weevils are able to fly, and can
survive for up to two years
An adult weevil is a small, reddish-brown
beetle, about 3mm. long and with a prominent
curved snout bearing a pair of stout jaws at the
tip.
Four light reddish or yellowish spots occur on
the elytra.
Male is generally smaller than female.
The adult beetles hibernate in winter in cracks
and cervices or under wheat bags in the
godowns.

The rice weevil is a serious pest in
our country.
Both grubs and adults feed on rice
grains, less commonly on wheat and
maize grains.
Only the skin of the grains is left
behind and the grains becomes
incapable of germination and unfit for
human consumption.

Nearly 50% of the damage in
grain stores is due to this pest.
The maximum damage occurs
from August to September.
The pest prefers humid climate
and multiplies enormously in
stores left undisturbed and
uncared for.

BATOCERA RUFOMACULATA (DE GEER, 1775)
(MANGO STEM BORER)
 Kingdom:Animalia
 Phylum:Arthropoda
 Class:Insecta
 Order:Coleoptera
 Suborder:Polyphaga
 Family:Cerambycidae
 Genus:Batocera
 Species:B. rufomaculata

 Batocera rufomaculata (Cerembycidae:
Coleoptera)
 Occasional pest
 Amlet and mulgoa varities are highly susceptible
 Also attacks fig, rubber, jack, eucalyptus etc.
 Appearance:
 Adult large, grayish with two pink spots and lateral
spines on thorax
 Grubs white, long with well developed head
 Biology
 life cycle : One year
 Eggs are laid singly on bark
 IP- 10-15 days: LP- 3-6 months; PP- 1-2 months
 Pupation inside the tunnel

 Nature of damage:
 Grubs feed by tunneling through the bark of
branches/stem
 Make irregular galleries in the stem
 Chewed material and excreta will be thrown out of the
branches
 Damage symptoms:
 Wilting of branches and main stem
 Oozing of dark liquid from entry hole and
accumulation of frass on the ground
 Management:
 Mechanical removal of grubs from the stem
 If not inject DDVP or Chloroform through entry hole
plug it with mud

LEUCINODES ORBONALIS GUENÉE, 1854
BRINJAL FRUIT BRORER
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Class:Insecta
Order:Lepidoptera
Family:Crambidae
Genus:Leucinodes
Species:L. orbonalis

 Leucinodes orbonalis
 The eggplant fruit and shoot borer or brinjal fruit
and shoot borer, is a moth species in the
genus Leucinodes. It is found in the tropics of Asia,
and it is a minor pest in the Americas.
 APPEARANCE:
 Imagines have a forewing length of 8.5–10.5 mm in
males and 9.5–12 mm in females.
 The forewing ground colour is white, with a light- to
dark-brown basal area, delimited by a dark-brown to
grey antemedial line.

The median area has a pale-brown, faint
proximal discoidal stigma. The distal
discoidal stigma is pale brown, reaching
from the costa to the forewing centre.
The central dorsum has a prominent
orange to dark brown L-shaped or
triangular spot leading to the forewing
centre and often meeting with the distal
discoidal stigma.
The external area is pale brown to
grey with a dotted marginal line

NATURE OF DAMAGE:
 Eggs are laid during the night on the lower surface
of the young leaves, green stems, flower buds, or
calyces of the fruits.
 Within an hour of hatching, the caterpillar (larva)
bores into the nearest tender shoot, flower, or fruit.
 Soon after boring into shoots or fruits, they plug the
entrance hole with excreta. In young plants,
caterpillars are reported to bore inside petioles and
midribs of large leaves.
 As a result, the affected leaves may drop off.
Larval feeding inside shoots results in wilting of
the young shoot.

The damaged shoots ultimately drop off,
disturbing plant growth and reducing fruit
number and size.
New shoots may grow but this delays crop
maturity.
Larval feeding inside the fruit results in the
destruction of fruit tissue, making even
slightly damaged fruit unfit for marketing

CROP DAMAGE:
The primary larval hostplant is eggplant or
brinjal, Solanum melongena, where most of
the economical impact of this species is
reported. Secondary host plants
comprise tomato, potato, nightshade, Sodom
apple, Ethiopian
nightshade, potatotree, nipplefruit, black
nightshade, turkey berry, tropical soda
apple, Solanum anguivi, Solanum
xanthocarpum, cape gooseberry,
and Physalis minima

CONTROL MEASURES:
Several other integrated pest
management strategies:
 sex pheromones, physical and mechanical
barriers, cultural practices, use of bio-
pesticides and biological agents.
 botanical pesticides and safer chemical
pesticides has been suggested to combat this
pest.
Intercropping can be used to reduce
infestation

BLISTER BEETLE
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Superfamily: Tenebrionoidea
Family: Meloidae

DISCRIPTION:
Adult blister beetles are often brightly
coloured, the need for camouflage being
eliminated by their ability to secrete
cantharidin.
They range between 3 and 20 mm (0.1 to
0.8 inch) in length, with the majority
between 10 and 15 mm (0.4 and 0.6 inch).
Their long, slender, leathery bodies are
covered by metallic green or blue wing
covers, often marked with bands or stripes.

 Blister beetle, (family Meloidae), any of approximately
2,500 species of beetles (insect order Coleoptera) that
secrete an irritating substance, cantharidin, which is
collected mainly from Mylabris and the European
species Lytta vesicatoria, commonly called Spanish fly.
 Cantharidin is used medically as a topical skin irritant
to remove warts.
 In the past, when inducing blisters was a common
remedy for many ailments, cantharidin was commonly
used for this purpose.
 It was also a major ingredient in so-called love potions.
Blister beetles are both helpful and harmful to humans.
 The larvae eat grasshopper eggs, and, if abundant,
adults can destroy crops.

LIFE CYCLE:
 The female lays between 3,000 and 4,000 eggs; only a few of
the young survive, however, because of their complicated and
haphazard life history (hypermetamorphosis).
 The female of Sitaris muralis deposits masses of eggs near
solitary bees’ nests.
 The larvae hatch from the eggs and remain dormant
throughout the winter. In the spring tiny active forms
(triungulins), sometimes known as bee lice, attach themselves
to a bee.
 They feed on eggs and stored food in the bee nest as they
pass through several more developmental stages, changing
from a larva to a legless grub.
 When the pupal stage is complete, the newly emerged adult
drops to the ground and begins feeding on cultivated plants.

HOST PLANT:
Blister beetles will feed on just about any leaf
that grows in your garden. They’re found on
tomato, potato, eggplant, peppers and other
solanaceous vegetables as well leafy greens.
In mid and late summer, they can arrive in
swarms, seemingly overnight and because of
their numbers, will do great damage in a short
time.
t’s toxic effect on livestock, known
as cantharidin toxicosis, is the greatest threat
posed by blister beetles. Infestations of alfalfa
and other hay can ruin it for sale or feeding.

CONTROL MEASURES:
 Frequent and careful inspection of home gardens
can go a long way towards controlling beetle
damage. Their numbers increase gradually in the
growing season’s early months, and an observant
gardener can keep them from doing much damage.
 Hand-picking can be effective in home gardens,
particularly when their numbers are low. But never
handle blister beetles with bare hands. Always wear
gloves. Brush the beetles off plants into a small
container with some soapy water. If shaken from
plants, the beetles will often lie in the dirt and play
possum rather than scurry away. Take advantage
and gather them carefully.

DYSDERCUS CINGULATUS

 Class:Insecta
 Order:Hemiptera
 Family:Pyrrhocoridae
 Genus:Dysdercus
 Species:D. cingulatus

 Mark of identification:
 Dysdercus cingulatus grows to a length of 12 to
18 mm (0.47 to 0.71 in).
 It is mainly red but has a white collar and three
black spots.
 It is closely related and very similar to Dysdercus
koenigii but D. cingulatus is slightly larger and the
femora have varying amounts of black while D.
koenigii has completely red femora.

LIFE CYCLE
 Eggs:Dysdercus eggs look very much like microscopic
hens' eggs. They are pale yellow are laid singly or in small,
loose clusters in sand, debris, or decaying vegetable
matter. They hatch in about one week.
 Nymphs: There are five nymphal stages or instars. The
first usually is spent underground. The duration of each of
the first four stages typically averages four to five days
during midsummer, but the fifth stage commonly takes
about twice as long. All five stages require from 21 to 35
days to complete development (Sprenkel 2000). The
nymphs are generally red. The fourth and fifth instars have
dark wing pads, and the dividing lines between abdominal
segments become very distinct as maturity is approached.


NATURE OF DAMAGE
 This insect has been a severe pest of oranges on
occasions. In puncturing an orange, a cotton stainer often
inserts its beak full length with no visible wound;
nevertheless, a single puncture may cause the orange to
drop in a few hours from the tree and to decay in one or two
days (Hubbard 1885). There are old reports of orange trees
well reddened with cotton stainers in which whole crops
were lost.
 Some other hosts of Dysdercus suturellus include
tangerines, okra pods, ripe papaya fruit , pods and
blossoms of oleander, seed pods of Jamaica sorrel
(Hibiscus sabdariffa), tree hibiscus (Hibiscus syriacus),
Turk's cap, teaweed (Sida sp.), Caesar's weed or Spanish
cocklebur (Urena lobata), Spanish needle (Bidens pilosa),
seaside mahoe or portiatree (Thespesia populnea), rose
buds and blossoms, eggplant, nightshade, and guava.

 The feeding activities of cotton stainers on cotton
produce a stain on the lint which reduces its value. A
few authorities have reported the stain comes from
excrement of the bugs. However, most have stated
that the stain primarily is a result of the bug
puncturing the seeds in the developing bolls causing
a juice to exude that leaves an indelible stain.
Feeding by puncturing flower buds or young cotton
bolls usually causes a reduction in size, or the fruiting
body may abort and drop to the ground.

CONTROL MEASURES
 No cotton or cotton seed or other host plant debris that
could serve as breeding material should be left on the
ground.
 For small infestations, colonies of cotton stainers on
plants can be shaken into a bucket of soapy water.
"Tanglefoot" around tree trunks will keep young bugs
from crawling up to fruits and blossoms.
 Small heaps of seeds, fruits, or bits of sugarcane can
be used as baits to attract cotton stainers.
 Then the insects can be killed with a spray of soapy
water. Insecticides can be used on ornamentals and
fruits, but tolerances must be observed on edible
fruits. Follow label recommendations. Management
information for Dysdercus on ornamentals in Florida is
very limited.

IXODES RICINUS, A HARD TICK

IXODES RICINUS, A HARD TICK
 Subphylum:Chelicerata
 Class:Arachnida
 Subclass:Acari
 Superorder:Parasitiformes
 Order:Ixodida
 Superfamily:Ixodoidea
Leach, 1815

IDENTIFICATION MARKS
 Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length
depending on age, sex, species, and "fullness". Ticks
are external parasites, living by feeding on the
blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and
amphibians.
 Ticks are widely distributed around the world,
especially in warm, humid climates.
 Their cephalothorax and abdomen are completely
fused. In addition to having a hard shield on their
dorsal surfaces, known as the scutum, hard ticks
have a beak-like structure at the front containing the
mouthparts, whereas soft ticks have their mouthparts
on the underside of their bodies.

NATURE OF DAMAGE
 Ticks are implicated in the transmission of a number of
infections caused by pathogens such as bacteria, viruses,
and protozoa.
 Occasionally, the tick harbors more than one type of
pathogen, making diagnosis of the infection more difficult.
 Species of the bacterial genus Rickettsia are responsible
for typhus, rickettsialpox, boutonneuse fever, African tick
bite fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Flinders Island
spotted fever, and Queensland tick typhus (Australian tick
typhus).
 Other tick-borne diseases include Lyme disease and Q
fever, Colorado tick fever, Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic
fever, tularemia, tick-borne relapsing
fever, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Bourbon virus, and tick-borne
meningoencephalitis, as well as bovine anaplasmosis and
the Heartland virus.
 In the United States, Lyme disease is the most commonly
reported vector-borne disease in the country.

CONTROL MEASURES
 Reduce the risk of tick bites by wearing long pants with
covered ankles when walking in areas with a lot of
ticks. Using repellents containing DEET or Icaridin on
clothes will also reduce the risk of tick bites. Ticks are
easier to spot on light clothes.
 Walk on paths in tick areas instead of high grass, heath
and scrub.
 Vets can prescribe agents against ticks for use on cats
and dogs.
 When you come home after walking in tick areas,
check yourself, children, dogs and cats thoroughly.
Ticks like to seek out thin-skinned places such as
behind the knee, groin, armpits and behind the ears,
but can be found elsewhere on the body

WHEAT WEEVIL (TROGODERMA GRANARIUM)

SYSTEMATIC POSITION:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Dermestidae
Genus: Trogoderma
Species: T. granarium

The khapra beetle is native to Punjab, India.
It has also been discovered in North America.
 It has become established in a number of
Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Asian and
African countries. It has also been discovered
in North America
Specially abundant in places having a temp 90
to 100°F

Feeds on wheat.
Occasionally attacks jowar, oat,
rice and maize and rarely gram
also.
Infest top layers of the stored
material.

Complete
metamorphosi
s
 Egg 
Larva (Grub)
 Pupa
Adult.
Chewing type
of

The female wheat weevil lays eggs,
cylindrical with one end more rounded and
the other more pointed, about 0.7 mm long
and 0.25 mm broad, weighing about
0.02 mg singly among the grains.
Sometimes they are laid in groups of 2-3
glued to a grains.
 The pointy end has a number of spine-like
projections.
The eggs are initially a milky white,
translucent, but over several hours turn a
pale yellowish color.

Yellow white, 1.5mm. long, hairy grub emerge in
5 to 9 days under proper conditions of humidity
and temperature.
They bore into the grains and feed on the content.
The female larvae become full-grown in 24 to 40
days and male in 20 to 30 days.
Mature larvae are up to 5 millimeters long and
are covered in dense, reddish-brown hair with
yellowish- brown transverse bands across the
body.
The larvae moult 4 times during this period.

Pupation occurs in the last larval skin among
the grains and takes 4 to 6 days.
The adult usually emerge in April or early
may.
They pair 2 to 3 days after emergence, and
the females start laying eggs in 1 to 3 days.
The female lives for 16 to 32 days after
maturity, and lays 125 eggs during her life.
Breeding occurs in April to October and
there are 4 to 5 broods in a year.

Larvae hibernate in winter in cracks
and cervices of the walls and floor or
in other sheltered places.
The beetle prefers hot, dry conditions
and can be found in areas where grain
and other potential food is stored,
such as pantries, malthouses, grain
and fodder processing plants, and
stores of used grain sacks or crates.

The adult beetle oval, dark-brown,
about 2 to 3 mm. long.
It has retractile head with clubbed
antennae.
The entire body bears fine hair.
There is no demarcation between
thorax and abdomen.
The males are smaller and darker than
the females.

The rice weevil is a major pest of wheat.
Occasionally attacks jowar, oat, rice and
maize and rarely gram also.
Main damage is caused by the grubs.
Luckily, they infest only the top layers of
the stored material, usually not going
deeper than 50cm.
Maximum damage is caused from July to
October.

RUST RED FLOUR BEETLE (TRIBOLIUM CASTANEUM)

SYSTEMATIC POSITION
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Tenebrionidae
Genus: Tribolium
Species: T. castaneum

Occur all over the
world.
Most common pest of
wheat flour.

Feeds on wheat grains.
Damage flour and flour products
and grains damaged by other
pests.
It also attacks dry fruits and
prepared cereal foods such as
cornflakes.

Complete
metamorphosis
 Egg  Larva
(Grub)  Pupa
Adult.
Chewing type
of mouthparts.

The rust-red flour beetle breeds from April to
October.
The adults mate 1 or 2 days after emergence.
The female lays white, transparent, cylindrical,
sticky eggs in the flour or the frassy material
among the grains and other food stuffs.
Flour or dust adheres to them.
Worm like, yellowish-white, 1mm. long larvae
emerge in 4 to 10 days, and become reddish
yellow, hairy, 6mm. long full-grown larvae in 22
to 25 days after 6 or 7 moults.

Pupation occurs in the flour.
Yellowish, hairy pupa produces
an adult in 6 to 9 days.
The entire life history is
completed in 26 to 30 days in
summer, winter is passed mostly
in the adult stage.

The adult is long-lived, sometimes
living more than three years.
The adult is about 3.5mm. long,
reddish brown beetle with bent and
clubbed antennae.
It is an active insect, capable of
short flight, but generally remains
concealed in flour.

Both the larvae and the adults
cause damage to flour and flour
products and also to the grains
damaged by other pests.
The flour may turn greyish and
mouldy with unpleasant smell,
that makes it unfit for human
consumption.

LESSER GRAIN BORER (RHIZOPERTHA DOMINICA)

SYSTEMATIC POSITION
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Bostrichidae
Genus: Rhyzopertha
Species: R. dominica

Originally inhabited
India, but has now spread
practically all over the
world.
It is commonly called
susri.

Feeds on cereals, pulses and
millets.
 They feed on flour formed by
the boring beetles or they enter
damaged grains and feed inside
them.

Complete
metamorphosis
 Egg  Larva
(Grub)Pupa
 Adult.
Chewing type
of mouthparts.

Rhizopertha dominica breeds from
April to November, and passes winter
hibernated as larva or adult.
The female lays about 0.67mm. long,
glistening white eggs that are rounded
at one end and pointed at the other.
They are deposited singly in the frass or
glued to the grains in small groups.
The larvae emerge in 5 to 9 days.

They feed on flour formed by the boring
beetles or they enter damaged grains and
feed inside them.
They undergo 4 or 5 moults and become
5mm. long, full grown larvae in 25 to 50
days.
Pupation occurs within the grains for 4 to 7
days.
Adult cuts its way out of the grains.
There are 5 to 6 broods in a year.

The adult is a 3mm. long, shinning, dark-
brown or black, cylindrical beetle.
The deflexed head is covered by a hood
like pronotum and bears clubbed
antennae.
The sexes are alike.
Polyandry and polygamy are common in
this pest.
The adults can fly from one godown to
another.

Both the larvae and the adults
cause damage to the grains,
reducing them to mere perforated
shells.
They also produce a considerable
frass on which the young grubs
feed till they are able to bore into
the grains.

RICE MOTH (CORCYRA CAPHALONICA)

SYSTEMATIC POSITION
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Pyralidae
Subfamily: Galleriinae
Tribe: Tirathabini
Genus: Corcyra
Species: C. cephalonica

Found in most countries.
Important stored grain
pest of our country.

Feeds on rice and maize
grains.
Also infest oil seeds and dry
fruits.

Complete
metamorphosis
 Egg  Larva
(Caterpillar) 
Pupa  Adult.
Siphoning type
of mouthparts.

The Rice Moth (Corcyra cephalonica) is a pyraloid
moth of the family Pyralidae. It is – as far as is
known – the only living species of the genus
Corcyra.
The rice moths are dark grey insects.
They breed in march to November.
Larvae hibernate in winter and pupates in spring.
The emerging moths are nocturnal and live for 2 to
4 days.
The female lays eggs singly or in small groups on
the grains, bags or other objects in the godowns.

Creamy white larvae emerge in 4 to 7 days
and feed under silken, weblike covers,
preferring partially damaged grains.
Hey become full grown in 21 to 41 days
after 5 moults.
They now prepare silken cocoon among the
grains for pupation.
They change into adults in 9 to 14 days.
The entire life cycle takes about 33 to 52
days.
There about 6 generations in a year.

The larvae damage the rice and maize
grains.
With heavy infestation, entire stock of
grains is changed into a webbed mass
with foul smell.
The grains become unfit for human
consumption
Also infest oil seeds and dry fruits.

CONTROL
 Control measures include physical, chemical and
biological measures.
 PHYSICAL CONTROL:
1. Manipulation of the storage environment, making it
less favourable for the insects.
2. Exposure of seeds to sun for 3 days in summer kill the
pests.
3. Stores should be clean and well ventilated.
4. One godown should be used to store only one kind of
grain.

5. Cracks, holes and crevices in the walls ,floors
and ceilings of the store house should be prevented for
not letting the pests in.
CHEMICAL CONTROL:
1. Contact poisons and fumigants are used to kill the
pests.
2. Pyrethrins of plant origins are mostly used due to
low mammalian toxicity, unstable to sunlight, rapid
breakdown.
3. Fenvalerate and Deltamethrin are synthetic
pyrethroids, highly toxic to the larvae.

BIOLOGICAL CONTROL: This is a safe method
to get rid of insect pests of stored grain.
Some of the biological species which are predators of
the infecting pest are listed:
NATURAL ENEMY TYPE LIFE STAGES
1. Acaropsellina docta Predator Eggs/ Larvae
2. Amphibolous
venator
Predator Larvae
3. Antrocephalus mitys Parasite Larvae/ Pupae
4. Blattisocious
keegani
Predator Eggs/ Larvae
5. Artema atlanta Predator Larvae

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