Evidence of seven larval instars in the red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv. reared on sugarcane

摘要

The coconut pest Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv. showed the presence of seven larval instars when reared in the laboratory on sugarcane. The log of head capsule width of each instar when plotted against the instar number exhibited a hyperbolic curve. This implies that Dyar's rule does not hold in this case, presumably due to the high growth ratios exhibited by early instars.