The black coconut bunch weevil, Homalinotus coriaceus (Gyllenhal), is an important coconut palm-tree pest in Brazil, making the female flowers and immature fruits fall down. This paper aimed to get information about its biology and laboratory rearing methods. Pieces of sugar cane were used as nourishment for the adults and oviposition substrate. The larvae were reared in three different diets at temperature of 25 ± 2°C, 70 ± 10% RH and 12h photophase, at the Laboratório de Entomologia of EMBRAPA (Centro de Pesquisa Agropecuária dos Tabuleiros Costeiros), Aracaju County, SE, Brazil. The three feeding substrates were: the coconut mesocarp, the citrus stem borer diet and the coconut american palm weevil diet. The citrus stem borer diet provided the best larval development.
Insect; pest; artificial diet
