Oviposition by the banded fruit weevil, Phlyctinus callosus (Schoenherr) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in deciduous fruit orchards in South Africa

Abstract

AbstractOviposition sites of Phlyctinus callosus (Schoenherr) in an apple and a nectarine orchard in the South Western Cape, South Africa, were investigated. No eggs were found on the fruit trees, only in different fractions of the orchard floor, viz. in orchard weeds, leaf litter and soil. Significantly more oviposition took place in plant material on the orchard floor than in the top 20 mm of the soil. Microscopic dissection of samples of such plant material revealed that females prefer to oviposit in confined or hollow spaces in moist, live or decaying plant tissue on the soil surface or in weeds comprising the cover-crop. P. callosus females favoured certain weeds above others for oviposition. The dispersion pattern of eggs in the cover-crop was contagious. The implications of the observed ovipostion behaviour in terms of control strategy, and for exploitation in a monitoring system for this species, are discussed.