New Horizons in Insect Science Towards Sustainable Pest Management

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Molecular Characterization and

Management of Shoot and Fruit

Borer Conogethes punctiferalis

Guenee (Crambidae: Lepidoptera)

Populations Infesting Cardamom,

Castor and Other Hosts

P. R. Shashank, B. Doddabasappa, Vasudev Kammar,

A. K. Chakravarthy and Hiroshi Honda

A. K. Chakravarthy (ed.), New Horizons in Insect Science: Towards Sustainable Pest Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-81-322-2089-3_20, © Springer India 2015

A. K. Chakravarthy () · V. Kammar
Department of Agricultural Entomology, Gandhi Krishi
Vignan Kendra (GKVK), University of Agricultural
Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka 560065 India
e-mail: [email protected]

P. R. Shashank
Division of Entomology, IARI, New Delhi, India

B. Doddabasappa
College of Horticulture, Kolar, Karnataka, India

H. Honda
Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University
of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572 Japan

Abstract

The genus Conogethes is a large, taxonomically complex cosmopolitan

moth taxon. To date, 24 species have been identified by DNA bar codes

and deposited in the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (http://www.

boldsystems.org). Type locality of Conogethes punctiferalis is India, so

many closely allied species may be included but taxonomic revision of

them has been neglected for a long time. Integration of several approaches

like conventional taxonomy, DNA bar code, electrophysiological and be-

havioral responses of adults and larvae, host–plant relationship patterns,

hybridization experiments, biochemical analysis, and analysis of and re-

sponses to pheromone components of Conogethes reared on castor and

cardamom confirmed that the populations belong to two different spe-

cies. Bioecology and management of Conogethes have been well stud-

ied. More than 31 alternate host plants for the borer have been recorded.

Therefore, it has better adaptation in the cultivated ecosystems. An in-

tegrated approach involving nontoxic chemicals is desired as currently

mostly insecticides are applied to suppress this pest.

Keywords

Cardamom · Castor · Conogethes punctiferalis · Management

Introduction

The fruit and shoot borer Conogethes (= Di-

chocrocis) punctiferalis mainly occurs in tropi-

cal and subtropical countries (Pena et al. 2002 )

and is distributed in Asia and Australia. Larvae

of this crambid moth are typically polyphagous

pests attacking more than 120 wild and culti-

vated diversified plants, namely, peach, chestnut,