Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-qks25 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-16T10:04:44.620Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Some factors pertaining to coffee shoots and within canopies affecting the distribution of yellow-headed borer, Dirphya nigricornis Olivier (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) egg niches in Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2011

F. M. E. Wanjala
Affiliation:
Coffee Research Foundation, P.O. Box 4, Ruiru, Kenya
B. M. Khaemba
Affiliation:
Department of Forestry, Mio University, P.O. Box 3900, Eldoret, Kenya
Get access

Abstract

The plant factors that contribute to the abundance of beetles in coffee fields were studied and analysed relative to shoot and canopy features of the host plant. During infestation Dirphya nigricornis Olivier constructed niches within specific heights (145.0–210.0 cm) of the canopies such that there was a highly significant (r = 0.99, P = 0.001) availability of adequate habitat for larval development. The adaptation of the pest to the host plant was good, irrespective of varieties and culture systems of the coffee plant. It was concluded that the alignment of eggs to tip internodes synchronised the newly hatched larvae with the coffee tissues, usually between 0.5 to 30 cm off the shoots, of extremely low dry matter, and high moisture content, such factors favouring early larval development.

Résumé

Les facteurs végétaux qui contribuent a l'abondance des D. nigricornis dus les caféiers. Ont ete etudiés relatifs aux jeunes pousses et aux couverts végétaux. L'infestation se fait par la construction des nids á une haunter specifique (145 a 210 cm) favorable au dévelopement larraire. Cette observation serant uraie pour tait systeme de culture et toute variete cultivee. L'emplacement d'oeufs tout an long des internoeuds se fait de façon synchrone avec le closion des larves sur le dévelopment tittulaire des jeunes pousses, en général de 0, 5 a 30 cm, region qui correspond a une faible teneur de matiere seche mais a une forte teneur en eau.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © ICIPE 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Crowe, F. J. (1962) The biology and control of Dirphya nigricornis Olivier, a pest of coffee in Kenya (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). J. ent. soc. Sth Africa 25, 304312.Google Scholar
Delcomyn, F. (1985) Factors regulating insect walking. A. rev. Ent. 30, 329356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dethier, V. G. (1970) Chemical interactions between plants and insects. In Chemical ecology (Edited by Sondheiner, E. and Someone, J. B.), pp. 83102. London Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimble, D. G., Nord, J. C. and Knight, F. B. (1969) Oviposition characteristics and early larval mortality of Saperda inomata and Oberea schaumii in Michigan aspen. Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 62, 308–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
House, H. L. (1961) Insect nutrition. A. rev. Ent. 6, 1326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lashomb, H. L. and Nebeker, T. E. (1970) Investigations of egg niches, eggs, and rate of oviposition of Dendroctonus frontalis (Coleoptera: Scolytidae). Can. Ent. 111, 435438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Pelley, R. H. (1959) Agricultural insects of East Africa. East Africa High Commission, Nairobi, Kenya, 305 pp.Google Scholar
Mathews, E. G. (1976) Insect ecology. University of Queensland Press.Google Scholar
Maxwell, F. G. and Jennings, P. R. (1980) Breeding plants resistant to insects. John Wiley and sons, 683 pp.Google Scholar
Mayr, R. (1970) Populations, species and evolution. Cambridge Mas: The Belknap Press, Harvard University Press.Google Scholar