Abstract
Natural infestations of the maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais (Motschulsky) were monitored in selected corn fields located in each of five major climatic or edaphic environments of Georgia. The population density and sex ratio of each population was recorded on a monthly basis during the fall and winters of 1982–83–84. Females suffered higher winter mortality than males, resulting in increasingly male-skewed sex ratios (from 0.8/1.0 to 1.6/1.0) as winter progressed. The degree of male-skewedness was positively correlated with the amount of subzero weather experienced by each population. Surviving weevil populations decreased in size as winter progressed, with the greatest reductions at the higher latitudes. No weevils survived through spring north of 33° 57′N where winter weather extremes of −15°C occurred. No true diapausing stage was found; however, cold tolerance tests indicated that winter-collected weevils were significantly more cold hardy than laboratory-reared weevils.
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