A note on Eulophonotus myrmeleon Fldr. (Lepidoptera, Cossidae), a stem borer of cocoa in West Africa

Abstract

The biology of Eulophonotus myrmeleon Fldr., the larva of which bores in the woody stems and branches of cocoa throughout West Africa, was studied in Ghana and Nigeria. In the laboratory the adult lives for a maximum of four days during which about 500 eggs are laid. The larval period is not less than three months and the pupal stage lasts three weeks. Larvae desert galleries in drying wood, and the excavation of new galleries in fresh wood is begun beneath the protection of a tent of wood particles bound together with silk. Populations are seldom large enough for their activities to be serious in Ghana, but the severe dry season in Western Nigeria causes considerable die-back in cocoa, creating conditions favouring larval migration and thus increasing the injurious effects of E. myrmeleon.