Amphistylus pauli Fairmaire, a newly discovered stemborer attacking grasses is only distributed in the semiarid to humid tropics of Western Kenya. It belongs to Agapanthiini tribe,subfamily Lamiinae,family Cerambycidae in order Coleoptera. The grayish brown adult is 11 mm long and 1.3 mm wide (male,n=25)to 14.45 mm long and 1.85 mm wide(female,n=17),relatively flat with long antennae,deplexed head and deeply punctated forewings,thorax and abdomen. Young and full grown larvae are glossy yellow with elongate and legless body. A full grown larva measures 10 mm long and 1.34mm wide (n=25).The yellow exarate pupa turns dull brown when matured and ready to become an adult. It measures 12mm long and 1.55mm wide (n=21).The beetle population was most abundant in March and December with an average of 1.8 and 1.3 A. pauli/20 stumps, respectively. Larvae were distributed within the tiller from ground root system to the eleventh node but 57% of all larvae occurred between ground root and first node. Effective collection of the larvae required destructive plant sampling. Development from larva-pupa and pupa-adult
ranged from 8-79(mean=31)and 3-37(mean=12)days, respectively. The primary hosts supporting development in the field are Hyparrhenia rufa (Nees)Stapf, Panicum maximum Jacq. and Sorghum versicolor Anderss. A. pauli at present attacks maize and sorghum crops of small-scale farmers in Lambwe area, Suba district in Western Kenya.
Species 1: Coleoptera Cerambycidae Amphistylus pauli (grass stemborer)
Keywords: maize
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