Biología de la broca del café Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) en condiciones de laboratorio

the berry borer (hypothenemus hampei) is the main insect-pest in the coffee producer countries. in this paper the biological cycle of the insect was studied in a material collected in 2004 in andrés eloy blanco county, lara state, venezuela. the study was conducted at the entomology laboratory of inia-lara, under mean temperature and relative humidity of 27.1°c and 65.3 %, respectively. the average duration of the insect phases was 4.21 days for egg, 11.15 days for larvae, 2.66 days for pre-pupa, 5.29 days for pupa, and 103,3 days for adult female. the paper also describes some morphological characteristics of each phase. the following two larval instars were found: l1, with an average width of the cephalic capsule of 0.33 mm, and l2, with 0.52 mm wide. the pre oviposition period lasted 5.1 days, the egg fertility was 99.2 %, the fecundity was 43.0 eggs per adult female, and the sex ratio was 13.8 females per each male.