Pumpkin Stem Borer

Pests of Field Crops in Southern Africa

PUMPKIN STEM BORER

(Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

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Text Box: On occasion, pumpkin or melon crops may be attacked by the Cerambycid beetle, Apomecyna binubila. The adult is about 10 mm in length, with mottled brown and grey scales except at the tip of the wing covers, and has the typical very long antennae of this group of beetles. The larvae are elongated creamy-white grubs swollen at the head end of the body. TOP

Text Box: Various melons, pumpkins and marrows are subject to attack by this pest. TOP

Text Box: The larvae bore within the main stems, both below and above ground, or the lateral stems. Their presence often results in cankerous thickenings and excrescences of gum visible from the outside. Early attack may result in death of plants, but usually individual runners may be killed off by the feeding activity within the stems. TOP

Text Box: Little is known about the life cycle of this pest, except that eggs appear to be laid in the spring on the stems of young plants. The larvae hatch probably within a week, and begin boring. The larval stage is thought to occupy about four weeks, after which pupation occurs in the swollen stem. Grubs, pupae and adults have been found quite late in the season, so that either egg-laying covers a protracted period, or there is more than one brood in a year. The winter appears to be passed chiefly in the adult stage, and the beetles can be found sheltering amongst plant trash. TOP

Text Box: This is such a sporadic pest that no control measures have been developed for it. Obviously destruction of plant residues after harvest is important, and it may be useful to grow taller barrier crops, or to grow the cucurbits within a mixed cultivation with taller crops. TOP

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Apomecyna binubila stem borer.