Melolonthidae
Mojojoy
daño
Coffea arabica
café
Colombia
Cenicafé
Coleoptera
Melolonthidae
White grubs
damage
Coffea arabica
coffee
Colombia
Cenicafé
Coleoptera
Melolonthidae
Larvas brancas
danos
Coffea arabica
café
Colômbia
Cenicafé
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White grubs (Coleoptera: Melolonthidae) are a diverse group of beetles with rhizophagous, phytophagous, and saprophagous habits in the Colombian coffee zone, with 144 registered species and 44 associated with the Coffea arabica. These insects eventually represent a risk during the establishment of a coffee crop, by cutting off the rootlets in seedlings less than six months old. In order to identify the species and characterize the damage, larvae were sampled in the soil and the adults were captured monthly for a year, using light traps, in Santander, Antioquia, Caldas, and Cauca. Likewise, herbivory bioassays were carried out with larvae and adults in coffee seedlings. The sampling with light traps gathered a total of 14,944 adults and 44 species, with a diversity and abundance, respectively, of 34 species and 2,411 individuals in Antioquia, 29 and 1,889 in Caldas, 25 and 10,003 in Cauca, and 19 and 641 in Santander. Larvae of Phyllophaga sericata, P. obsoleta, P. menetriesi, and Cyclocephala fulgurata fed the greatest from coffee roots with averages of 33.6%; 51.6% and 64.8% with one, three, and five larvae respectively. Adults of Plectris pavida, Astaena valida, Anomala cincta, Symmela sp., and Pelidnota prasina chew from leaves and consume up to 60% of the coffee foliage. The largest captures of white grubs coincided with the beginning of the rain seasons during March-April and September-October, a moment from which early warnings could be generated to adopt preventive management measures during the establishment of coffee crops.
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