Abstract
To implove the mass-rearing of the West Indian sweetpotato weevil, Euscepes postfasciatus. on artificial diet, we tested whether either of two environmental factors affected egg hatching of this species. The first factor was the light/dark condition during egg incubation. The second was submersion of eggs in furcellaran solution, a viscous liquid that is used to scatter eggs evenly on the diet surface in mass-rearing of other weevil species. E. postfasciatus eggs were divided into two groups: those kept in a clear Petri dish and those kept in a light-tight Petri dish. Both were incubated for six days at 25±1°C in 14-h light: 10-h dark. After incubation, eggs from each dish were divided into two subgroups: one was submerged in 0.6% furcellaran solution and the other was not. There was no significant difference among the four treatments in hatchability. mean egg period (days from oviposition to hatching), or coefficients of variation of egg period. We conclude that neither of the light/dark condition nor submersion in the furcellaran solution has any effects on egg hatch of E. postfasciatus. These results suggest that the furcellaran solution can be used as an egg-seeding agent in the mass-rearing of E. postfasciatus.
