Category Archives: Maize Pests

Credits: Biovision-Infonet

(Cicadulina spp.) Credits:Biovision-Infonet The adults are about 3 mm long, slender and cream to pale yellow green in colour. These leafhoppers have two small black spots between the eyes and brown marks behind the eyes extending along the body. They have brown lines along the wings. They usually hop away when disturbed. The direct damage cause […]

(Epilachna similes) Credits:Biovision-Infonet The adult is oval in shape, about 6 mm in length and reddish brown in colour with black spots on the wing covers. The body is covered with short, light coloured hairs. The larvae are 7-9 mm in length, soft and covered with dark coloured spines. They pupate on leaves. Both larvae […]

(Rhopalosiphum maidis) Credits: Biovision-Infonet It is dark green to bluish-green in colour with black cornicles. Particularly during dry/periods the colonies appear on the inflorescences and young leaves. Feeding by this aphid causes yellow mottling, but this damage is seldom of economic importance. Their role as vector of the sugarcane virus, maize dwarf mosaic virus and maize […]

(Sitotroga cerealella) Credits:Biovision-infonet The larvae of the Angoumois grain moth penetrate and feed inside maize grain. This insect may also infest the crop in the field prior to harvest. The moths are small (nearly 1 cm long) yellowish or straw-coloured, a have a fringe along the posterior margins of the wings. They can be observed flying around […]

(Prostephanus truncatus) (Sitophylus spp.) Credits:Biovision-infonet They attack stored maize grains. Both the adults and the larvae (grubs) of these beetles feed in the grains. Adults come from infested cobs in the field or from an infested maize store and lay eggs in the grains. They attack maize both in the field and after harvest. Attacked maize […]

(Peregrinus maidis) Credits: Biovision-Infonet It is 4-5 m long and greyish in colour. The transparent wings are about twice as long as the body and show marked dark-brown veins. It is commonly found in groups in the funnel of the plants, the whorl, leaf sheath or underside of leaves. This insect produces large quantities of […]

Credits: Biovision-Infonet Stemborers are the most important insect pests of maize in sub-Saharan Africa. Yield losses vary between 10-70%. Several species have been reported. The importance of a species varies between regions, within a country or even the same eco-region of neighbouring countries. At least four species attack maize in eastern and southern Africa, with […]

Credits: Biovision-Infonet White grubs are the larvae of scarab “chafer” beetles. They are white, C-shaped with a brown head and 3 pair of legs. Some species of whitegrubs (e.g. Phyllophaga spp, Heteronychus spp.) feed on roots of maize plants. Root damage is manifested by wilting seedlings, poor stands, and patches of tilted or lodged plants showing uneven growth. Injured […]

Credits: Biovision-Infonet Several species of grasshoppers and locust feed on maize. The edible, a long horned grasshopper Homorocoryphus nitidulus vicinus (Ruspolia differens) has been reported to occasionally attack maize in Tanzania (Bohlen, 1973). This grasshopper attacks maize in the silking stage, arresting pollination. Other grasshoppers and locust attack maize from the mid-whorl stage to maturity, and may […]