File: <CUCUJ1.IMA>

Immature Stages of Cucujidae

Detailed information on immature stages of Cucujidae is being acquired. However, Sheppard (1936) found that Cryptolestes ferrugineus Steph., which feeds on whole or milled grain, sometimes is predaceous on other insects of a scavenger on their dead bodies. The highest oviposition rate was from females fed only on angoumois grain moth eggs, and larval development was most rapid when insect food was available. Clausen (1940) discussed the Passandridae, which is not included in the Cucujidae. He noted that Fiske (1905) observed a Catogenus rufus F. In which the larvae are true external parasitoids of the pupae of some cerambycid borers and of those of the braconid parasitoids which attack the same hosts. Scalidia is also reported to develop parasitically.