author(s)
Adarsha SK, Kalleshwaraswamy CM, Shivanna BK and Kavita Hegde

abstract
Investigations on the reproductive status of emerged adult beetles of Leucopholis lepidophora was studied in laboratory and field conditions. In laboratory condition ovarian development of L. lepidophora was studied by dissecting of different stages of female beetles at regular intervals. Number of eggs in the lateral and common oviduct was counted. As females become older, the number of eggs in oviducts decreased. Based on the fat body and developmental state of their ovaries females were graded into four groups viz., Virgin females, gravid females, laying females and spent females. Field collections were made at weekly intervals and collected beetles were dissected to distinguish them as a virgin, gravid, laying and spent based on laboratory grading. The present findings revealed that most of the female emerged from the soil are virgin with well-developed ovaries. Most of the emerged females were virgin (51.62%), followed by spent (24.55%), gravid (16.61%) and laying females (7.22%). The responses of male beetles of L. lepidophora to traps baited with different grades of adult female beetles were studied as a suggestion of the pheromone production. Virgin female baited trap effectively attracts male beetles of 22.8±13.85 (Mean±SD) compare to mated and laying females. These results strongly indicated that virgin female beetles secrete sex pheromone to attract males, as long as they are virgin in the state. This finding has implication for the management of areca nut white grub through isolation, synthesis and field evaluation of sex pheromone that can be used for mass trapping under field condition.