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<Author> Mitsugu Sugiyama ; Yukio Shimoji ; Tsuguo Kohama |
The West Indian sweet potato weevil, Euscepes postfasciatus, was internally marked by incorporating Calco Oil Red N1700 dye into the larval diet, and the effects of the dye and its solvent on fecundity, longevity and sexual maturity were examined. There were three types of diet used in this study: standard diet, corn oil diet (standard diet + corn oil), and Calco oil diet (standard diet + corn oil + the dye). Neither dye nor corn oil affected either adult longevity or fecundity. The pre-oviposition periods of females reared on the Calco oil and the corn oil diets were significantly longer than those of females reared on standard diet, and the age at which males started mating showed a significant difference among weevils reared on the three types of diet. Thus, the solvent oil affected female sexual maturity, whilst the dye had a negative effect on male sexual maturity. None of these effects, however, is considered sufficient to prevent use of the dye for marking released weevils for the sterile insect technique (SIT). |
