WHITE GRUBS (COLEOPTERA: SCARABAEOIDEA) ASSOCIATED WITH SORGHUM PLOTS Sorghum bicolor (L.), IN JANTETELCO, MORELOS.

Abstract

Sorghum is a crop of economic importance, being the main component in the production of livestock food, in the state of Morelos at the national level, occupies fifth place producing 174,105 tons per year. Among the problems in sorghum production, the application of fertilizers, the management of pests and diseases stand out, among the pests is the “white grubs” complex, some species that belong to this complex damage the root system of many agricultural plots. The objective of this work is to present the species of the “white grubs” complex that are associated with sorghum plot. The work was carried out during the months of November and December 2022, in Jantetelco, Morelos, where larvae of the white grubs complex were obtained, these were deposited in one-liter plastic containers with soil from the collection site as a substrate. In the laboratory, the larvae were separated according to the morphological characters. 20% of the sample was fixed in Pampel solution, and 4 days later it was transferred to a 70% aqueous ethanol solution for conservation. 80% of the larvae in that sample were kept alive to obtain the larva-adult relationship. A total of 228 “white grubs” larvae were collected (finding up to nine larvae per sample) made up of the genera: Phyllophaga, Chlaenobia, Paranomala¸ Diplotaxis and Cyclocephala; which represent 14 species, with the genera Phyllophaga being the most abundant and the largest number of species (six). From the larva-adult relationship, the adults of Ph. brevidens, Ph. hoogstraali, Ch. rzedowskiana, P. flavilla, and D. megapleura were obtained and identified. The larvae of Ph. brevidens, Ph. hoogstrali, Ch. rzedowskiana and D. megapleura are strict rhizophagous, while those of P. flavilla are saprophagous.