First report of sugarcane whitegrub, Lepidiota mansueta Burmeister and their bio-ecology from Uttarakhand

Out of four sugarcane producing districts (viz. Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar, Dehradun and Nanital) of the state, Haridwar district ranked first with 63.0% of total sugarcane producing area. However severe losses caused by whitegrub were noticed in Laksar block of Haridwar district. In view of this frequent surveys were conducted to identify the problem. During survey work, a whitegrub species i.e. Lepidiota mansueta Burmeister (order: Coleoptera, Family: Scarabaeidae and sub family: Melolonthinae), which has not been reported earlier from Uttarakhand, was identified. The bio-ecological study revealed that L. mansueta started emerging with the onset of monsoon generally cloudy, hot, humid day time. Females lay eggs in the month of June and remain in grub stage from July to following year's March-April and pupation occurs in April-May. The total lifecycle is completed in two years.