3fc COCONUT PLANTER'S MANUAL; 



during the day they are usually to be found in the crowns of palms, in 

 decaying palm stumps and. logs, and in heaps of manure and other 

 refuse. 



Egg. — After feeding and mating the female beetles lay their eggs 

 in almost any dead and decaying vegetable matter which will provide 

 food for the grubs. A list of such breeding places is given later. 

 The eggs are whitish to creamy white. They are rather narrow when 

 freshly laid (figure 4, left) but gradually swell to more than double 

 their original size, becoming almost round (figures 4 and 5, right) just 

 before hatching. 



Grub. — The eggs hatch in about two weeks into small whitish 

 grubs with a light brown head and six legs (figure 6). They have 

 mouth parts suitable for biting and chewing their food which consists 

 of decaying vegetable matter. This passes through the body, giving 

 it a bluish-grey colour in parts, especially towards the hinder end. 

 The dark colour of the grubs is especially noticeable when the yare 

 about half grown (figure 7). The older grubs, while usually feeding 

 on fairly soft decaying matter, are able to bore their way into the 

 harder portions of the palm stumps and logs which are gradually 

 hollowed out and reduced to mere shells. The grubs are usually full 

 grown (see figure 8) in from three to four months, but may take longer, 

 and are a dirty white colour, which is mainly due to the fact that the 

 dark undigested food is gradually expelled from the body after the 

 grubs stop feeding in preparation for the pupal or cocoon stage. 



Pupa or Cocoon. — The full-grown grub forms its pupal or 

 cocoon cell in various places depending on the nature of its breeding 

 ground. The cell may be made in the soil under manure or refuse 

 heaps, or in the hard walls of partially decayed stumps and logs, or in 

 the soft vegetable mould usually found in stumps and logs occupied by 

 the grubs. Figure 9 shows a pupal cell, half natural size, which was 

 found to be composed of the vegetable mould in a hollow coconut log. 

 The grub, after constructing its pupal cell, gradually shrinks to about 

 two-thirds its former size and changes into the pupal stage. The pupa 

 or cocoon is light brown in colour and somewhat resembles the beetle 

 in shape and size (figure 10). The pupal stage lasts between three and 

 four weeks, after which the beetle comes out of the pupal case inside 

 the cell, but remains inside the cell for several days before making its 

 way out to feed. 



