Moisture during Egg Incubation Adversely Affects Hatching of the West Indian Sweetpotato Weevil, Euscepes postfasciatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), When the Eggs are Incubated En Masse

We compared the egg-hatching of Euscepes postfasciatus (Fairmaire) with and without moisture treatment to test whether moisture is necessary during egg incubation when a large number of eggs are gathered into a mass. Moisture treatment exhibited significant undesirable effects on hatching (reduction of hatchability, delay of hatching, and increase of the variance of hatching date) compared to no moisture treatment. In addition, moisture treatment significantly increased the incidence of fungus on the egg surface, which can subsequently contaminate the larval artificial diet. Based on these results, we concluded that moisture is not necessary for incubating E. postfasciatus eggs. Two possible explanations for the undesirable effects of moisture on hatching were discussed: a direct effect by preventing respiration of the eggs and an indirect effect through fungal infection of the eggs.