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ABSTRACT
Sitophilus oryzae is an insect pest, which mainly feed on cereal grains. The hosts of Sitophilus oryzae can have a great influence on their development. In recent times, morphometric techniques have been used to study the variation of insect pests in terms of shapes and sizes of insects’ morphology. In this study, morphometric characterization has been used to evaluate size variability in Sitophilus oryzae cultured in four different grain crops and to verify whether the food preference has an effect on the morphology of the insect. This was carried out using males and females of Sitophilus oryzae of a total of 43 individuals, gotten from four grain products, namely; millet, rice, sorghum and wheat. Measurement of body length, body width, snout length, snout width, elytra length and prothorax length were measured using a binocular magnifying microscope. The one-way Analysis of Variance showed no significant differences among the five morphological characteristics between the weevil populations for both males and females (P> 0.05), however there was an observed significant difference in the mean value of the male body length across the various grains sampled (3.45 ± 0.08). This study showed slight differences in morphometric characters among weevil population (P < 0.05). These infested pests cause physical damage, leading to deterioration in the weight, quality, vigor, and reduction in the germination of the grain, thus leading to the loss of market value. Morphometric study and control is essential to save the production.
