Arthropod-Plant Interactions (2013) 7, 287-297

Pasquale Trematerra, Claudio Lupi and Christos Athanassiou (2013)
Does natal habitat preference modulate cereal kernel preferences in the rice weevil?
Arthropod-Plant Interactions 7 (3), 287-297
Abstract: The influence of larval diet source in Sitophilus oryzae (L.), a primary grain feeder, on the choice of a new cereal host by young adult was investigated through a multiple choice comparative bioassay. For this purpose, virgin male and female adults, which had been reared as immatures in different grain commodities, were monitored according to their food preference in cylindrical arenas containing whole kernels of maize, rice, barley and wheat. The adults showed a clear individual preference for maize kernels, regardless of the previous food experience, sex and also the interval on which the adults are exposed to food. Males were much more mobile than females and visited more vigorously different commodities before the final choice. Female response was found to be related with male response to specific food sources. Hence, our results indicate that there was no natal habitat preference induction, since maize was, in most cases, the final commodity choice.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Pasquale Trematerra

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Sitophilus oryzae	Maize/corn (Zea mays)
	Sitophilus oryzae	Stored grain