Some Aspects of Biology and Control Methods of Fruit Stalk Borer Oryctes elegans Prell （Coleoptera： Scarabaeidae）

Laboratory and field studies were conducted on some aspects of biology and control methods of fruit stalk borer Oryctes elegans Prell., the study was conducted in date palm orchards in south Baghdad during the years 2009 and 2010. The laboratory rearing result ofO. elegans indicated that the larval stage period was very long reached 6 months, the body weight of the mature larva was 7.61 gm, the length and body circumference were 7.58 and 5.23 cm respectively. The period of pupa stage was 19 day and 2.97 gm body weight, while the length and body circumference were 3.74 and 3.21 cm respectively .While the weight of adult stage was 1.67 gm and 3.14 cm, 2.71 cm for the length and circumference body respectively. Results of hand collection larvae in palm trees during the regular annual service, showed reduction in population density of adults to 1.4 adult/trap per week compared with 3.3 and 14.0 adult/trap per week in the orchards were larvae collected partially and without hand collection by using the light traps with solar energy （Magna Traps, Russell IPM） respectively. Also, the study proved the existence of an inverse relation between the moon light and adult activity, which affected on the adult number cough in light traps. These results indicated that the hand collection of larvae works during months January, February, March and April at synchronized with the larval stage on palm trees, and use Magna Traps as an effective method to control O. elegans through IPM programs in palm orchards.