Background: The mungbean/green gram is one of the major grain legume crops native to Indian subcontinent, which was found damaged extensively by pulse beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus during storage. Moreover, insect damage also causes chemical constituents seeds leading alteration in flavor, nutritive value, marketability and acceptability stored seeds. Therefore, present investigation focused...

The genetic regulation of anterior-posterior segment pattern development has been elucidated in detail for Drosophila, but it is not canonical for insects. A surprising diversity of regulatory mechanisms is being uncovered not only between insect orders, but also within the order of the Diptera. The question is whether the same diversity of regulatory mechanisms exists within other insect order...

Conspecific sperm precedence (CSP) has been identified as an important post-copulatory, pre-zygotic mechanism that can act to reduce gene flow between populations. The evolution of CSP is thought to have arisen as a by-product of male and female coevolution in response to intraspecific post-copulatory sexual selection. However, little is known about the mechanisms that generate CSP. When Callos...

Laboratory experiments were carried out to investigate the efficacy of sugarcane bagasse-based lignin against four stored grain insect pests viz., Tribolium castaneum, Tribolium confusum, Sitophilus oryzae and Callosobruchus maculatus. Mortality was assessed after 24, 48 and 72 h of treatment and LD50 values were calculated at the respective time intervals. It was observed that T. castaneum is ...

Bruchids are the most important pests of leguminous seeds in world. In this study, focus was done on Callosobruchus maculatus, a serious pest Vigna unguiculata seeds. As no efficient control methods preventing collateral effects beneficials currently exist, study investigated whether RNA interference (RNAi) could provide new biotechnological and selective tool for bruchids control. Three princi...

Powdered dry root bark of Securidaca longepedunculata was mixed with maize and cowpea and effectively reduced the numbers of Sitophilus zeamais and Callosobruchus maculatus emerging from these commodities, respectively, more than 9 months after treatment. This effect was reciprocated in grain treated with a methanol extract of the root bark, indicating that compounds were present that were ovip...

The behaviour of insects is dictated by a combination of factors and may vary considerably between individuals, but small insects are often considered en masse and thus these differences can be overlooked. For example, the cowpea bruchid Callosobruchus maculatus F. exists naturally in two adult forms: the active (flight) form for dispersal, and the inactive (flightless), more fecund but shorter...

This study investigated the egg-laying behaviour of ectoparsitoid, Dinarmus basalis Rondani (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), females when faced with a prolonged deprivation of suitable hosts leading to extreme 'oviposition pressure'. The egg-laying behaviour of virgin D. basalis females was tested with Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) hosts previously parasitized by the conspec...