author(s)
Janardan Saikia, M. M. Goswami, Badal Bhattacharyya

abstract
The Angoumois grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Oliv.) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is a cosmopolitan and most destructive primary insect pest of several stored grains. The biology and detection techniques of S. cerealella on rice and maize grains were studied under laboratory conditions at 31±1 °C and 90 ± 5 % relative humidity. Based on the measurements, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th larval instars lasted 3.0, 4.1, 4.4 and 4.5 days respectively in rice and 4.4, 5.4, 5.2 and 5.6 days in maize, resulting in total larval duration of 16.2 days in rice and 20.7 days in maize. The detection technique found expeditious was acid fuchsin staining technique followed by Tullgren Funnel method, flotation method and visual method, while Tullgren Funnel method was efficient in extracting first instar larva.