The species Callosobruchus maculatus is known to be pestiferous, and has the potential to cause significant financial damage to legume agriculture. In the past decade, significant progress has been made to identity different materials capable of controlling pestiferous insect infestation without causing damage to plants or negatively affecting animals and humans. Herein, we investigate the effects of glucose, ethanol, acetic acid, and sodium hydroxide treatments on the mortality and fecundity of C. maculatus. The data obtained was interpreted with a Student's t-test (P=<0.5). No statistically significant difference in beetle fecundity and mortality across treatment type was found, as represented by the number of emergence holes and number of dead beetles over a seven-week period.
Introduction
Pest damage costs the United States billions per year; the majority of this damage is inflicted by less than 1-3% of known insect species (Shelton). Of these, the order Coleoptera is grossly overrepresented, as roughly 70-80% of beetle species are phytophagous (Shelton). For this reason, Callosobruchus maculatus, known colloquially as the cowpea weevil or cowpea seed beetle (Tran and Credland 1995), is of particular interest to both the scientific community …show more content…
maculatus is believed to be native to Asia and Africa, it has been documented on most continents (Walker 2006). The species has a lifespan of approximately 1-3 weeks, and adults neither eat nor drink (NCSU 2017). Thus, effective pest control strategies must target the larval stage of the beetle. Larvae hatch after approximately 4-8 days gestation, feed exclusively on legumes (Beck and Blumer), and burrow into beans for the remainder of their development, emerging as adults 6-13 weeks later. Because larvae feed on the bean from which they hatch, host choice is of utmost importance (Cope and Fox 2002). Female beetles are discriminatory and tend to oviposit on natal beans (NCSU 2017; Wasserman and Futuyma
Introduction
Pest damage costs the United States billions per year; the majority of this damage is inflicted by less than 1-3% of known insect species (Shelton). Of these, the order Coleoptera is grossly overrepresented, as roughly 70-80% of beetle species are phytophagous (Shelton). For this reason, Callosobruchus maculatus, known colloquially as the cowpea weevil or cowpea seed beetle (Tran and Credland 1995), is of particular interest to both the scientific community …show more content…
maculatus is believed to be native to Asia and Africa, it has been documented on most continents (Walker 2006). The species has a lifespan of approximately 1-3 weeks, and adults neither eat nor drink (NCSU 2017). Thus, effective pest control strategies must target the larval stage of the beetle. Larvae hatch after approximately 4-8 days gestation, feed exclusively on legumes (Beck and Blumer), and burrow into beans for the remainder of their development, emerging as adults 6-13 weeks later. Because larvae feed on the bean from which they hatch, host choice is of utmost importance (Cope and Fox 2002). Female beetles are discriminatory and tend to oviposit on natal beans (NCSU 2017; Wasserman and Futuyma