Some Humidity and Light Reactions of the Granary Weevil,Sitophilus granarius(L.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Abstract

The behaviour to moisture of a number of stored-product insects;Tenebrio molitor(Pielou and Gunn, 1940),Ptinus tectus(Bentley, 1944),Tribolium castaneum(Willis and Roth, 1950) andTribolium confusum(Roth and Willis, 1951) have been studied. All these species live in a dry environment in flour and all have shown a preference for the drier of any two humidity alternatives. The moisture reactions of the granary weevil were studied since this species develops in a relatively moist environment (Richards, 1947) and should show a contrast to the reactions of the above species. The supplementary studies of this investigation were to determine the effect of moisture conditioning on the moisture reactions and to study the interaction between light and moisture.