

December 196 



ARS 33-89 



Department of Agriculture 

 Itural Research Service 



TO EXPEDITE BOLL WEEVIL REARING 

 IN THE LABORATORY 



1/ 



st and H. Vardell, Entomology Research Division—' 



Cultures of the boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis Boheman) have been maintained 

 since 1958 at the Southwestern Cotton Insects Investigations Laboratory at College 

 Station, Tex. , according to methods developed by Vanderzant and Davich.— More 

 recently, most of the other State and Federal laboratories where experimental work 

 on this insect is being conducted have also established such weevil cultures. Because 

 weevil eggs are deposited one at a time and the larvae are cannibalistic, rearing 

 methods have been developed for handling the insects as individuals rather than as a 

 mass. Such methods are expensive to carry out because they require much hand 

 labor. 



Several simple mechanical devices that materially reduce the cost of rearing 

 the boll weevil have been developed at the Boll Weevil Research Laboratory, State 

 College, Miss. These devices, along with the procedures for utilizing them, are 

 described in this report. 



EQUIPMENT FOR PREPARING DIET MEDIUM 



Although a chemically defined larval diet is available for rearing the boll weevil- 

 preparation of this diet is complicated and expensive. Earle et al.— showed that 

 ground cotton squares extracted with acetone were a good source of protein in the 

 larval diet. Small quantities of this powder can easily be prepared in the laboratory 



3/ 



Vin cooperation with the Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station. The 

 authors are at the Boll Weevil Research Laboratory, State College, Miss. 



^/Vanderzant, Erma S. , and Davich, T. B. Laboratory rearing of the boll weevil: 

 A satisfactory larval diet and oviposition studies. Jour. Econ. Ent.51: 288-291. 1958. 



^/Vanderzant, Erma S. , unpublished report. 



4/ Earle, N. W. , Gaines, R.C. , and Roussel, J. S. A larval diet for boll 

 weevils containing an acetone powder of cotton squares. Jour. Econ. Ent. 52: 710-712. 

 1959. 



