Diagnostic characters

State Size Features

Larva 5 mm - Something crushed, white with yellowish brown head and very rudimentary false abdominal legs.

Adult 11-15 mm - Narrow and pointed front wings, yellowish with dark pits. The later ones are gray with fringes. Palpos long and curved.

Phenological cycle

Pupa Larva Egg Total cycle

Duration (d) at 27ºC 4-5 23 7-9 32-39

The attacks can be initiated both in the field with the grain in formation and in post harvest. Normally during the winter the insect is in storage and in the spring it reproduces, occupies the crop and carries out the laying between the ears in an isolated or group (or in the barn itself). The egg is whitish and becomes reddish as the moment of revival approaches. The neonatal larva perforates the grain and enters inside to feed on the germ or grain endosperm. After passing through three stages larvae pupae inside (previously to an exit opening of 1 mm) to then emerge the adult, which will not feed during their two weeks of life. The grain is mowed with caterpillars inside, succeeding the rest of generations in storage. This species develops optimally at 26-30ºC, stopping its growth at a temperature below 16ºC.

Annual generations

4

Symptoms / Damage

The larvae dig galleries in the grain, causing a weight loss of up to 50%. It favors the appearance of secondary pests that by themselves could not penetrate healthy grain, and diseases.

The simple presence of droppings, exuvia, and other remains give the grain an unpleasant odor and cause the commercial depreciation of the product.

In post harvest the damages occur in the first centimeters of the piles of product, since the adult is fragile and can not penetrate more into the mass of grains at the time of making the laying.

Control

- Chemical

The cleaning of the place before introducing the grain can be carried out by means of pulverization based on methyl pirimiphos.

Once the grain is stored in the warehouse, it is pulverized by atomization or dusting with pyrethrins or deltamethrin.

If you opt for fumigation, the products to be used are hydrogen phosphide or magnesium phosphide.

- Cultural measures

The placement of chicken poppies with pheromone traps allows monitoring of the populations and determining the opportune moment of the possible treatments.

The ventilation of stored products is very important, in order to avoid increases in humidity or temperature. Below 10ºC Plodia interpunctella stops its development.