Host range: Wheat, maize, jowar, rice, pulses, oil seeds and their cakes. Symptoms of damage

• Adults are harmless. Grub damages the grain starting with germ portion, surface scratching and devouring the grain.
• It reduces the grain into frass.
• Excessive moulting results in loss of market value due to insanitation caused by the cast skin, frass and hair.
• Crowding of larvae leads to unhygienic conditions in warehouses.
• Damage is confined to peripheral layers of bags in bulk storage.

Identification of the pest

• Egg - Eggs are laid on the grains or crevices.
• Grub - Grub is straw coloured with dark brown hairy bands on each segment and typical posterior tuft forming a tail of long hairs. It is active, move and feed freely.
• Pupa - Pupation takes place on the surface of the grain in bulk and overlapping edges of bags.
• Adult - Reddish brown, convex, oval in shape with practically no distinct division of head, thorax and abdomen. Abdomen size is comparatively larger.