Spermatogenetic Cells and Chromosomes of Sitophilus oryzae (L.) and Sitophilus zeamais (Mots.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Abstract

True weevils Sitophilus oryzae (L.) and S. zeamais (Mots.) are highly destructive and cosmopolitan pests of stored grains. They sometimes totally destroy the stored grain if it is left undisturbed for some length of time. Both larvae and adults feed within the grain kernels reducing them to powder or hollowing out the endosperm (Harein and Söderström 1966). Losses are particularly high in the tropics where storage conditions favor pest growth and multiplication. Although male aedeagus is a useful taxonomic character, S. oryzae and S. zeamais are hard to distinguish effectively by other external characters. We therefore examined their spermatogenetic cells and chromosomes because they are easy to obtain and comprise the genomic materials controlling an organism's taxonomic characters (Ueshima and Ashlock 1980). 1 For reprint request. © 1988, Japan Mendel Society, International Society of Cytology. All rights reserved.