A contribution to the study of the habits and bionomics of the Stenoscelis hylastoides (Woll.), a wood-boring beetle pest of the Western Cape Province
Master Thesis
1951
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
The beetle Stenoscelis hylastoides (Woll.), first described in 1861 is a wood borer of quite considerable economic importance in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Because it was not until recently that its effect on house timbers was noticed, it has never before been thoroughly investigated. Apart from the original description (WOLLASTON - 1861), there is no information in the available literature regarding the habits of the beetle which would have been of practical use in this thesis. This complete dearth of information therefore necessitated starting from first principles, and deriving technique as the work progressed. This naturally involved much trial-and-error work which took up a lot of the available time. One of the main reasons for the difficulties encountered in the course of this work, is the fact that not only do both adults and larvae feed and live inside the wood, but the females return into the wood after copulation, to oviposit. This phenomenon is almost unique among woodboring beetles that have been investigated, (though it does occur occasionally in others), so that there was no literature available with which to make comparisons, or from which to obtain useful hints. Another serious handicap is the long life history of the beetle (about 1½ to 2 years from egg to the emergence of the adult from the wood). As the available time was only l½ years, much of the work in this thesis is of necessity incomplete, though long-term experiments are still under way, and may produce significant results at a later date.
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Includes bibliographical references (pages 68-69).
Reference:
Zinn, J. 1951. A contribution to the study of the habits and bionomics of the Stenoscelis hylastoides (Woll.), a wood-boring beetle pest of the Western Cape Province. University of Cape Town.