Southern cowpea weevil

Callosobruchus chinensis (L.)

Classification

Primary pest; Grain feeder
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Chrysomelidae
Acronym: CCH

Description

  • Adults are small (3 to 4 mm long), globular body with long legs and long antennae.
  • Elytra are patterned and the last abdominal terga is exposed.
  • Larvae are white and grub-like with reduced legs.

Images

Similar species

Commodities affected

  • Chickpeas, lentils, garden peas, mung beans

Signs of infestation

  • Emergence holes from seed are obvious and characteristic.

Damage

  • Damage is distinctive. When adults emerge from a seed, they leave a neat circular exit hole.
  • Heavy infestation can cause commodity to heat, resulting in a loss of quality and mould growth.

How to control

Geographic range

  • Is abundant in the tropics
  • Has been recorded from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario in Canada

Where found

  • Is occasionally found in beans imported to Canada
  • Is a pest of stored beans, peas and wild legumes
  • Attacks field beans and peas in the field
  • Can be a storage pest in granaries where it will breed continuously on dried pulses
  • Requires high temperature and moderate relative humidity to reproduce well, so does not do well in Canada

Life history

  • Adults are very active and will run and fly readily.
  • Females lay eggs by attaching to the outside of the seedcoat.
  • Larvae feed and develop within the seed.
  • Prior to pupation, the larvae chews an exit hole for the adult to emerge from.

Video

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