THE GEANARY WEEVIL 5 
A key to the principal insect pests of grain, including the granary 
weevil, was published by Zverezomb-Zubovski (73) in 1923, and is 
especially interesting because of the 78 illustrations, the keys, and 
the Russian bibliography of 72 entries dealing with grain pests. A 
translation of this paper is on file in the Library of the Bureau of 
Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture. Entomolog- 
ists are directed to this paper in any study of the Russian literature. 
ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION 
The origin of the granary weevil is not definitely known, although 
it has been thought to have originated either in Asia or in the region 
bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Unlike the other members of 
the genus Sitophilus, which thrive best in a tropical or subtropical 
climate, the granary weevil is now distinctly a temperate-climate 
species. 
Because of its habit of breeding in grains of all kinds, it has been 
carried by commerce to all parts of the civilized world. It does not 
thrive in warm climates, even though it is occasionally found there 
in apparently thrifty cultures. In tropical and subtropical climates 
it soon dies out. This seems true in spite of the fact that one of the 
best cultures seen by the writers came from Texas in chick-peas 
from Northern Mexico. Cotes (12) in 1888, Fletcher (27) in 1911, 
and Fletcher and Ghosh (28) in 1920, in their articles dealing with 
grain pests in India, do not mention granarius as a grain pest along 
with oryza and others. 
In colonial days, the granary weevil appears to have been abundant 
and widespread over the United States and much more common 
than the rice weevil, Sitophilus oryza. Possibly there existed a 
confusion in the identification of these closely related weevils. At 
the present time, the granary weevil is common in all the northern 
States and is the predominating form in the States of the extreme 
north. It is not often found breeding farther south than North 
Carolina. 
Cooley (11, p. 127), in 1914, in recording the presence of granarius 
in Montana, intimates that the species was not commonly found 
there, for he says, " The knowledge of its presence in Montana should 
put grain growers on their guard." Chapman (4, p. 38), in 1921, 
writes, "It is far more common in the south than in Minnesota. 
Its importance in the north is due to the fact that it is continually 
shipped in with southern wheat." 
Swenk (66, p. 366), of Nebraska, in writing of the principal insects 
injurious to agriculture during 1908-9, says: "A really tremendous 
amount of grain is lost every year in Nebraska through the attack 
of stored-grain pests after the grain has been stored in the granary. 
Of course the insect most concerned in this destruction is the common 
grain weevil (Calandra granaria)." In 1922 Swenk (67, pp. 3-4) 
again states that the granary weevil is common throughout Nebraska, 
but refers to the presence also in southern Nebraska of S. oryza. 
Dean (15, p. 198), in 1913, lists the granary weevil along with the 
rice weevil and the Angoumois grain moth as the three principal 
pests in Kansas of whole grains. Girault (32, p. 70), in 1912, in 
discussing the granary weevil, says, " The species is widely distributed 
in the United States but is more common southward." Stedman 
