Population fluctuation of red flour beetle,Tribolium castaneum (herbst.) (coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) on different cereal foods in laboratory

Present study was conducted on the abiotic factors and their influence on population of red flour beetle in various cereal foods. findings of the study would be helpful in management of the pest in different food materials. to explore the food preferences of the red flour beetle,flour cereal foods,namely corn flake,white flour,semolina and biscuit were used for present study. the results revealed that white flour was most preferred food to tribolium castaneum with the highest mean population (272.25 beetles) and followed by semolina (65.88 beetles),corn flakes (8.5 beetles) and biscuits (6.16 beetles),respectively during period under study. relatively higher correlation between population of the pest in white flour and temperature was recorded to be 0.596 (p<0.05). using various linear and non-linear regression models,vapor pressure model was proposed for beetle population and number of weeks of observations. geometric curve was proposed to define the relationship between insect population and temperatures during the study period. copyright 2014 zoological society of pakistan.