Survival and reproduction of stored-product beetles on seeds cached by a desert rodent and by Native Americans

We examined the survival and reproduction of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), and the sawtoothed grain beetle, Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.), on seed diets of 16 plants from desert habitats in Arizona. Some of these desert seeds are harvested, stored, and eventually eaten by the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnvironmental entomology Vol. 23; no. 2
Main Authors Wicklow, D.T, Mcalpin, C.E, Nelsen, T.C
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.04.1994
Subjects
ARIZONA
AVENA SATIVA
GEOMYIDE
GRAINE
HORDEUM VULGARE
ORYZAEPHILUS SURINAMENSIS
REPRODUCCION
REPRODUCTION
SEMILLA
SUPERVIVENCIA
SURVIE
TALTUZA
TRIBOLIUM CASTANEUM
TRITICUM AESTIVUM
XEROFITAS
XEROPHYTE
ZEA MAYS
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Summary:We examined the survival and reproduction of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), and the sawtoothed grain beetle, Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.), on seed diets of 16 plants from desert habitats in Arizona. Some of these desert seeds are harvested, stored, and eventually eaten by the banner-tailed kangaroo rat, Dipodomys spectabilis, or by native American Indians. Seed diets were also prepared from cultivated cereals (e.g., Avena sativa, Hordeum vulgare, Triticum aestivum and Zea mays) that become infested with stored-product beetles in grain stores. Few or no adult beetles remained alive after 30 d on diets of intact seeds of a majority of the native plants we tested. Beetle survival was high, with numerous larvae and pupae, on intact seeds of cultivated barley, wheat, or maize. When flour diets were prepared from desert seeds, several also failed to support beetle populations, including species stored by kangaroo rats and native Americans (e.g., Prosopis juliflora and Monolepis nuttaliana). These results help to explain the absence of stored-product beetles in seed stores recovered from kangaroo rat burrows in Arizona. With T. castaneum, the nutritive value of flour prepared from Panicum sonorum, a seed eaten by native Americans, greatly exceeded that of any cultivated cereal we tested. Desert seeds stored by kangaroo rats or native Americans may be sources of safe antiinsectan natural compounds and other novel gene products to be used in protecting cultivated cereals from insect pests while having no or low toxic effects on vertebrates
Bibliography:9452926
J11
ISSN:0046-225X
1938-2936
DOI:10.1093/ee/23.2.414