Author(s):

Arun Kumar Singh, Kameshwar Kumar and Santosh Kumar

Abstract: The taxonomic study was based on the 27 specimens of Sitophilus oryzae collected from different region of Kerala. Depending upon the morphological variations within the species, specimens were pooled into two different groups. Detailed description of all the taxonomic characters like head, rostrum, (dorsal and lateral), antennae, pronotum, elytron, femur, tibia, tarsus, venter and genitalia were studied and presented with 33 illustrations and 22 line diagrams. Taxonomic description of the species are supplemented with standard taxonomic terminology along with genital characters and loaded with the morphometric ratios. The taxonomic study revealed that, morphological variations present among the groups may be due to environmental conditions, availability of food, and moisture content of grains on which they are feeding on. All the variations within the species were depicted with the differential distinguishing characters along with line diagrams.

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