Acoustical Detection of the Sweetpotato Weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Sweet Potato²

Ultrasensitive acoustical equipment was used to detect larvae of the sweetpotato weevil, Cylas formicarius elegantulus (Summers) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in the sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas (L.). Methods of expressing results were evaluated with per cent audible as the best indicator of larval presence. Sound from moderately infested sweet potatoes (8 to 20 weevils/sweet potato) varied considerably even though infestation rates above 60 weevils/sweet potato resulted in sound throughout most of the observation period. Infested sweet potatoes were detectable after two weeks of weevil development; maximum values were observed a month after infestation. However, the substantial variation of the observation data precluded descriptive mathematical models based on infestation rate or weevil development. Disease processes also caused signals that were indistinguishable from those made by sweetpotato larvae. Other factors that influence detectability are also discussed.