ARTICLE

Distribution, pest status and agro-climatic preferences of lepidopteran stem borers of maize in Kenya Abstract. Lepidopterous stem borers are the main field insect pests that attack maize, Zea mays L. in tropical Africa. A survey was carried during the long and short rain cropping seasons of 2002 / 2003 across six main agro-climatic zones (ACZs) to determine the spatial distribution of important stem borer species in Kenya. A total of 474 visits were made in the seventy-eight localities conveniently chosen to represent each of the six ACZs. 189,600 stems were checked for infestation, of which 27,799 infested stems were destructively cut and dissected for stem borer larvae identification. An average of 1.4 stem borer larvae were recovered per infested plant. 54.5 % of the recovered larvae were identified as Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) (Crambidae), 39.7 % as Busseola fusca (Fuller) (Noctuidae), 4.5 % as Sesamia calamistis Hampson (Noctuidae) and 0.8 % as Chilo orichalcociliellus (Strand) (Crambidae). Minor species present included Eldana saccharina Walker (Pyralidae), Sesamia nonagrioides (Lefebvre