Sex Discrimination by Morphological Traits for Larvae and Pupae of Potato Tuber Moth, Phthorimaea operculella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) Using Binocular Microscope

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Egypt

2 Zoology Department, Women’s College, Ain Shams University, Egypt

Abstract

The potato tuber worm, Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is one of the most destructive potato pests in the world. Sexual differentiation is sometimes required to conduct investigations on sex-specific responses, mating, pesticide resistance inheritance, and sterile, Insect-Inherited, Sterility Technique and Control Tactics. The goal of this study was to use a binocular microscope to determine distinct morphological traits of immature stages male and female larvae (L.) and pupal stage (p.). We present a straight forward approach for sexing P. operculella in this paper. Male larvae were distinguished by the presence of dark-colored gonads that were plainly visible through the cuticle. The sex of a male pupa can be determined using a Binocular microscope by the appearance of dark-colored gonads on the dorsal side. Furthermore, the morphology of the genitalia opening at the end of the abdominal segment distinguishes males from females.

Keywords

Egyptian Academic Journal of Biological Sciences. A, Entomology
Volume 14, Issue 4
December 2021
Pages 109-116

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