Sweet Potato Weevil (Cylas formicarius)

Alias: sweet potato ant weevil, sweet potato weevil

Characteristics: The adult body length is 5~8 mm, and the body is as slender as an ant.The whole body is blue-black with metallic luster, except for the terminal segments of the antennae, prothorax and legs, which are orange-red.The head extends into a slender beak, shaped like an elephant's trunk, with chewing mouthparts attached to the end of the beak.The geniculate antennae have 10 segments. The terminal segments of the male's antennae are club-shaped, while the female's antennae grow into an egg-like shape.The length of the front chest is twice as long as the width, and it is indented like a neck at the rear 1/3.The two elytra together form a long oval shape and are significantly bulged.The surface of the elytra has small, inconspicuous dots.The legs are slender.

Main hazards: fresh sweet potatoes, sweet potato seedlings and stems and sweet potato slices.

Sweet potato weevil control schedule: Sweet potato weevil occurs in 6 to 8 generations a year in the south, with obvious generation overlap.Adults mainly overwinter in hidden places such as fields; eggs, larvae and pupae can also overwinter in potato cubes.In early spring, adults first complete one generation on overwintering plants, and then move to the field to cause damage.Adult insects have weak flying ability, are afraid of direct sunlight, and have the tendency to appear dead.The eggs are mostly laid scattered under the cortex of the potato pieces, followed by the thicker potato vines. The oviposition opening is usually covered with colloid material, and each female lays about 30 to 200 eggs.The entire larval stage lives in potato pieces or vine heads. The inside of the potato piece is eaten by the larvae into an irregular curved tunnel. The tunnel is filled with insect feces. Due to the invasion of pathogenic bacteria caused by the wound, the victim potato piece produces a foul and bitter taste. The mature larvae pupate near the surface at the end of the tunnel.This insect occurs more severely under conditions such as warm climate, heavy soil, lack of organic matter, dry and acidic soil, extensive cultivation and management, and continuous cropping.

‌The method of using sweet potato weevil sex attractant mainly includes the following steps‌:‌

‌Suspension height and quantity‌: Hang the sexual lure equipment in the field. The hanging height should be 10-15 cm higher than the crops.Place 3-5 sets per acre and replace the lure cores about once a month.

‌Frequency of changing lures‌: The use of sexual lure equipment requires regular replacement of lures. It is usually recommended to change the lures once a month to ensure continued attraction of sweet potato weevil adults.

‌Preparation before the adults fly‌: Before the adults fly, arranging sex lures in advance can effectively reduce the number of adults and thus reduce the damage to sweet potatoes.

Product description: The attractant of this product is a new type of green biological control product.The trap attracts male insects by long-term and slow release of pheromones that imitate female courtship and cooperates with the trap to trap and kill them.This method can detect pest population density and plan pesticide application, or directly trap and kill adult insects in a large area to reduce the mating rate, thereby controlling the number of new generations and controlling insect population density.The pheromone control method is safe and efficient and will not produce pesticide resistance, pesticide residues or broad-spectrum killing of non-target organisms (beneficial insects).At present, pheromone technology has been widely used in developed countries.