Abstract

Unlike other insects associated with stored grains and seeds, the pulse beetle, Callosobruchus chinensis is rather specific in its food habits. The natural hosts of this species have been listed by Chittenden (1898), Lefroy (1909), Fletcher (1914), Rao (1917), Fletcher and Ghosh (1919), Black (1922), Ghosh (1937) and Pruthi and Singh (1950). In India it has been found to feed only on a particular group of host seeds belonging to the Natural Order Leguminosae. During surveys of insect pests of vegetable seeds in stores and certification of the vegetable seed samples, this pest has been intercepted from almost every kind of the important leguminous vegetable seeds. It was observed that this beetle laid eggs freely in. all such seeds but its further development in these seeds was not uniform, which was also noticed by Ghosh (1937). In some, it developed very fast while in others it could hardly subsist and even died without entering the seed.

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