The Biology of Nausibius clavicornis (KUG.) (Col., Cucujidae)

Abstract

Nausibius clavicornis (Kug.) is a cosmopolitan Cucujid that has frequently been recorded from sugar. It is commonly found in this commodity in Trinidad, where it has not been collected from any other.The adult and other stages are described, and an account is given of the life-history on Haydak's formula at 85°F. and 75 per cent. R.H. Development has also been studied on two types of unrefined sugar.Copulation can take place within one day of the emergence of either sex and the female may begin laying within four days of copulation. The average number of eggs laid was 275 and the overall viability was 85 per cent. The average incubation period was just under five days.The larvae of both sexes may undergo only five moults in development, but the more usual number for females is six. When larvae are disturbed during development, both sexes tend to have six larval instars. Severe disturbance may induce a seventh moult. The mean development period from oviposition to the emergence of the adult was 30 days when there were five larval instars; when there were six, development took about two days longer. Larval mortality on Haydak's formula was low.Ovipositing females lived for up to 163 days under controlled conditions, but males tended to outlive females by about 50 days.On unrefined sugars (e.g., raw or yellow-crystal sugar), adults lived for almost as long (73:99) as on Haydak's formula, but oviposition was greatly reduced and the viability of the eggs was much lower. Larval mortality was high, especially in the first instar, and the total development period was greatly increased.It is unlikely that N. clavicornis could multiply rapidly in raw or unrefined sugar, and any deterioration in stored sugar directly attributable to it would probably be small in comparison with that caused by other factors.

A new fossil species of Nausibius (Coleoptera: Silvanidae) in Rovno amber: a beetle from Eocene forests with congeners thriving in warehouses today

“…The genus, as presently comprised, is probably polyphyletic (Halstead, 1980;Thomas, 1993), and several undescribed extant members of the group are known (Halstead, 1980). The extant representatives of Nausibus are found in subcortical habitats and old bees' nests; the cosmopolitan N. clavicornis, with the best studied biology (Breese & Wise, 1959), often lives among stored food products such as raw yellow-crystal sugar, rice, dried apples, ginger, cassia, nuts, dried meat, and seeds, as well as tobacco and other plant products (Thomas, 1993;Thomas & Ghahari, 2016).…”

The development and oviposition of Oryzaephilus spp. on unrefined sugars

“…The Cucujid most commonly found is Nausibius clavicornis (Kug. ), and Breese & Wise (1959) have shown that this beetle is able to complete its life-history on certain types of unrefined sugar. Often occurring with N. clavicornis in sugar, and sometimes alone, is 0. mercator, but infestations of 0. surinamensis, either alone or with the other species, are much less common.…”