THE OVIPOSITION BEHAVIOUR OF THE BLACK VINE WEEVIL

Copyright statement This copy of the thesis has been supplied on the condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author's prior consent. For My Uncle Ken and Auntie Joan Within the constraints of the experiments conducted vine weevil were found to exhibit a strategy of volume of indiscriminate oviposition rather than a strategy of definitive site selection characteristic of a true oviposition behaviour. A series of experiments was conducted to determine oviposition and host plant interactions under conditions of choice and absence of choice of host plant. It was found that oviposition was greatest for Yew, followed by polyanthus, fushcia, strawberry and (despite the name) was found to be least on vine plants. Variation was attributed to a combination mainly of ground cover and partially quality of host. Oviposition was found to be muc