Rearing method and developmental biology of the African coffee white stem borer, Monochamus leuconotus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

Although the African coffee white stem borer, Monochamus leuconotus (Pascoe) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), is a major insect pest of coffee in Africa, there is much to learn about its biology. The present paper describes an original rearing method for M. leuconotus and provides unpublished biological data for the pest. The coffee white stem borer colony was started with larvae extracted from infested coffee stems collected in the field. Larvae were reared on artificial diet while the adults were kept in reproduction cages with coffee sticks as feeding and oviposition substrate. Under our rearing conditions, mean adult longevity was 89.5 d for females and 81.8 d for males. Fecundity was 40.7 eggs per female on average, with an oviposition period of 53 d (one female laid 151 eggs for a period of 145 d). Egg viability was low (39%) and the incubation period was 26.6 d. Larval and pupal survival was high (80.9 and 88.5%, respectively). Larval development duration was variable, with a mean of 251.4 d, whereas pupal development was less variable, with a mean of 26.6 d. The rearing method described here is easily replicable and allowed a colony of coffee white stem borer to be continuously maintained in the laboratory for three years. Useful data on coffee white stem borer's life history, including reproductive and feeding behaviors, are reported here and compared with previous reports in order to fill the knowledge gaps of this important but neglected pest of coffee. (Résumé d'auteur