Diurnal Behavior of Plum Curculio (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Adults within Host Trees in Nature

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Abstract
From 0600 to 2100 h from mid-May to early July, we observed the behavior of 171 overwintered adult plum curculios, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), for ca. 128 h within plum and apple host trees in Western Massachusetts. Adults spent 45% of the total observation time resting (principally in and near fruit leaf clusters), 23% feeding (on fruit), 19% crawling (principally on twigs and fruit), 12% in oviposition-associated behavior (on fruit), and less than 1% in flight, dropping, and intra- or interspecific interaction behavior. Movement increased with time of day and temperature, with peak movement on warm, calm evenings. Our observational data suggest that reflective traps aimed at capturing visually orienting insects in flight within host trees will have low probability of accurately monitoring plum curculio adult population levels.