Oviposition by Female Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae): Description and Time Budget Analysis of Behaviors in Laboratory Studies

Abstract

The oviposition behavior of the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), a major insect pest of durable stored foods, was studied in small experimental arenas under laboratory conditions using videography, and a time budget analysis of its behaviors was documented. Resting gravid females typically became active shortly after the start of the scotophase. The characteristic behaviors exhibited by mated females prior to oviposition included antennal movement, grooming of antennae and mouth parts using the forelegs, walking or flying, and abdomen bending and dragging. Pre-oviposition behaviors such as antennal grooming and walking or flying were observed to alternate several times before females commenced the abdominal dragging behavior that preceded egg laying. Eggs were laid singly or sometimes in groups, either freely or stuck to food material. Gravid females showed little or no movement during the photophase; however, they actively flew and oviposited during the scotophase. Females allocated only a small portion of their time to oviposition while the rest of the time was spent away from food. Females oviposited on food material by making repeated visits, predominantly during the first four hours of the scotophase. Visits and time spent on food declined as the scotophase advanced.

Evaluation of contamination of packages containing cereal-fruit bars by eggs of the pest Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella, Lepidoptera) due to perforations in their polypropylene foil packaging

“…A similar inclination of the females to lay eggs along the edge of the arena was recorded in the case of the packaged bar and the empty package. This egg distribution pattern may be related to the fact that the females use the walls as resting places and spend most of their time there (Sambaraju et al 2016). This work indicates the various risk levels of product contamination by eggs only.…”

Foliar behaviour of biogenic semi-volatiles: potential applications in sustainable pest management

“…Stickiness of these compounds, particularly at colder night temperatures, leads to adsorption/adherence on leaf surfaces of emitter and neighbouring plants and re-release of sVOCs back to the atmosphere when sunlight warms the foliage (Schaub et al 2010;Himanen et al 2010). This nocturnal adherence of unfamiliar sVOCs on the host plant may affect oviposition of herbivorous insects that lay eggs during colder evening dusk or early morning dawn or during total darkness such as many moth species (Uematsu and Yoshikawa 2002;Graf et al 2015;Sambaraju et al 2016). In theory, oviposition of insect species that prefer to lay eggs in daytime such as weevils (Greenberg et al 2006) or plant bugs (Egonyu 2013) will be less affected, because unfamiliar sVOCs will have already evaporated from the plant surfaces.…”

Sexual dimorphism, diagnosis and damage caused by Duponchelia fovealis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

“…El reconocimiento y separación de sexos en insectos vivos es una actividad básica para la realización de diversas investigaciones y técnicas (ejemplo; comportamiento de insectos (Sambaraju et al, 2016;Wu et al, 2023), crías masivas (Nair et al, 2019;Woods et al, 2019), tablas de vida (Gharekhani & Salek-Ebrahimi, 2014;Steinbach et al, 2017); análisis de feromonas y su efecto (Ando & Yamakawa, 2011;Kong et al, 2014), desarrollo de técnicas de insecto estéril (Marec et al, 2019;Reger et al, 2021) y evaluación de insecticidas (Wang et al, 2005;Martins et al, 2023), entre otras.…”