INSECTS OF STORED GRAIN A POCKET REFERENCE SECOND EDITION DAVID REES © David Rees 2007 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact CSIROPUBLISHING for all permission requests. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Rees, David. Insects of stored grain : a pocket reference. 2nd ed. Includes index. ISBN 9780643093850. 1. Arthropod pests – Identification. 2. Grain – Diseases and pests. 3. Grain – Storage. I. CSIRO. II. Stored Grain Research Laboratory (Australia). III. Title. 633.104965 Published by and available from CSIROPUBLISHING 150 Oxford Street (PO Box 1139) Collingwood VIC 3066 Australia Telephone: +61 3 9662 7666 Local call: 1300 788 000 (Australia only) Fax: +61 3 9662 7555 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.publish.csiro.au Front cover Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella. Photo by John Green Set in 8.5/10 Optima Cover and text design by James Kelly Printed in Australia by BPA Print Group Insects Pages.qxd 27/3/07 6:10 PM Page i Contents Introduction 1 How to use this book 2 Beetles – Coleoptera 6 The structure of beetles 6 Moths – Lepidoptera 58 The structure of moths 58 Psocids, Booklice – Psocoptera 69 Bugs – Hemiptera 71 Wasps – Hymenoptera 72 Index to species 73 Insects Pages.qxd 27/3/07 6:10 PM Page ii Insects Pages.qxd 27/3/07 6:10 PM Page 1 Introduction Insects of Stored Grain:A Pocket Referenceconcisely illustrates and describes the most important pests associ- ated with stored cereal grain. Other durable commodities of animal and plant origin, such as pulses and oilseeds, dried fish and meat, skins, hides and wool, are also featured. Given the book’s compact nature, insects associated with the built environment that are accidental in stored commodities – e.g. ants, cockroaches, silverfish, wood boring beetles and termites – are not covered. This publication is designed to fit in a pocket or toolbox. It provides basic information on the appearance, biology, pest status and distribution of species most likely to be found in durable stored products worldwide. The book can be used in conjunction with Insects of Stored Productsby DP Rees (CSIRO Publishing 2004), where additional information on each species is available. 1 Insects Pages.qxd 27/3/07 6:10 PM Page 2 2 How to use this book Each species or closely related group of species is explained under the following headings. Identification Common and scientific names are provided, with family names appearing in brackets. Major features used for identification are given; however, as a basic field guide, only those characters that are easily seen with a hand lens or basic binocular microscope are emphasised. Use of specialist keys may be needed in some situations to properly confirm a species’ identity. Images are annotated with arrows that point to important charac- ters useful in identification. Unless otherwise indicated, the scale bar represents 1mm. Identification of beetle larvae to species is difficult and often impossible, and is beyond the scope of this book. However, larvae differ between families, and the major forms are illustrated on pages 7 and 8. Similar species Similar species are listed, which should be compared to help confirm the identity of your specimen. The number in brackets corresponds to the species number in this book. Pest type Insects infesting stored grain feed and live in a number of ways, including: Commodity feeders These feed directly on commodities and can be conve- niently divided into primary pests, those that attack intact commodities, and secondary pests, which require the Insects Pages.qxd 27/3/07 6:10 PM Page 3 commodity to be damaged before they can attack it. In reality, each pest requires a different level of ‘damage’ before it can survive on a commodity. For some species this level is minimal, but for others it may be substantial. Commodities accumulate damage from harvesting, handling, pest attack and processing, which increases the risk of attack from secondary pests. Secondary pests dominate in milled products such as flour, and processed and manufactured food products (e.g. breakfast cereals, chocolate and compound animal foods). Fungal feeders Some species supplement their diet by feeding on mould and mould spores while others eat nothing but mould. Fungal feeders are often present on ripening grain and usually die out in storage but may persist in poorly stored grain or in grain heavily infested with other insects. Predators Many storage pests will prey on other insects present, including members of their own species. Obligate predators only feed on other insects. Parasitoids A number of parasitoid wasps attack beetles and moths. Larvae of these wasps develop in or on their host, eventually killing it. These are potential ‘beneficial’ insects as they can control pest populations. Scavengers Some scavenger species feed on bodies of insects and other dried material of animal origin. Many are important pests of stored products of animal origin such as wool, hides, skins and dried fish. 3 Insects Pages.qxd 27/3/07 6:10 PM Page 4 4 Commodities attacked Details are given of commodities attacked. Secondary pests usually attack a wider range of commodities and many can feed on almost any dry material of animal or plant origin. Economic importance A rating of importance from high to low is given based on the potential capability of the species to inflict serious damage to a commodity. This rating does not take into account situations where the simple presence of an individual insect is in itself important. Such situations include where an individual insect is of quarantine interest or when it is found in a high value finished product such as a box of chocolates. Distribution Comments on geographical distribution are provided. Most species have a worldwide or a pan-tropical distribution. Many tropical species not established in temperate areas are often intercepted there on infested imports. Life cycle Data is shown where available. It has been collated from studies published in the scientific literature worldwide (see ‘Additional information’ below) and is presented as follows: Optimum Conditions of temperature and relative humidity (r.h.), along with number of days or months, at which eggs take the shortest time to develop into adults. Insects Pages.qxd 27/3/07 6:10 PM Page 5 Range Conditions under which eggs can complete development to adults. At the extremes, population growth is slow due to high mortality or low activity. As a rule of thumb, population growth under optimum conditions may be 10 or more times faster than at the extremes. Maximum population growth rate per month The rate at which the species in laboratory studies can multiply in a month under optimum conditions. In reality, rates of population growth observed in the field vary depending on the presentation and nutritional quality of the commodity infested. Nevertheless, pests capable of rapid population growth under laboratory conditions are usually significant pests in commodity storages. Details are also given on the process of development from egg to adult with particular reference to the lifestyle of larvae/nymph and adult stages. Additional information Additional information on this pest is available in Insects of StoredProducts(ISP) by DP Rees (CSIRO Publishing 2004), on the page listed. In addition, this book provides a detailed reference list to publications on the biology and identification of insect pests of stored products. Photographic credits Photographs in this publication were taken by John Green, David McClenaghan, Vanna Rangsi, Roslyn Schumacher, Noel Starick and the author. Copyright of all images, with the exception of Pyralis farinalis, rests with CSIRO. Copyright of the image of P.farinalisrests with the author. 5 Insects Pages.qxd 27/3/07 6:10 PM Page 6 6 BEETLES – COLEOPTERA The structure of beetles Adults Knowledge of the basic structure of beetles is required for their identification. Terms illustrated below are used in the following species descriptions. mandibles antenna compound eye coxa thorax head pronotum femur tibia elytra tarsus trochanter abdomen hindwing, under elytra Major body components of an Structure of a beetle leg adult beetle Larvae Larvae of beetles found in stored products have one of five distinct body forms, which are described and illus- trated below.