Biological and Reproductive Parameters of Tribolium castaneum in Brazil Nut

• DOI: 10.1653/024.102.0111
• Publication Date: 2019-04-11T12:43:22Z
• Authors: Pires, Evaldo Mar...; Nogueira, Roberta...; Faroni, Leda Rita...; Soares, Marcus Al...; Oliveira, Marco A...
• Keywords: 2. Zero hunger; 0106 biological sciences; Biodiversity; 01 natural sciences; Taxonomy

Brazil nut is used widely in the food industry because the nutritional content of this commodity contains a variety of lipids, proteins, and essential minerals, as well as vitamin A which is used in the cosmetic industry. Agricultural products such as grains, seeds, and nuts often are adversely affected by numerous organisms, including Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), that cause significant losses during storage. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate the biological and reproductive parameters of T. castaneum on Brazil nut. Pre-oviposition, egg incubation, and oviposition lasted an average of 7.4, 4.2, and 28.4 d, respectively, with 79.4% egg viability. Oviposition began on the seventh d after mating and the last occurrence of laying was on the 46th d. An average of 1.2 eggs per d per female was produced during the first 20 d. The mean number of eggs per female produced during a lifetime was 28.9. The larval stage exhibited 8 instars during a period of about 86 d. The pupal stage averaged 6.5 d and the adult stage 40.8 d. Survival rate was 44.7% on d 40 and 22.7% on d 60 after adult emergence.