Pod fly: Melanagromyza obtusa (Agromzidae: Diptera)

Description:

• Adult is small black fly and is about 5 mm in length.
• Eggs are laid in the wall of an immature pod.
• Maggot is milky white, legless and about 3 mm in size.
• Five brownish strips runs along the entire mid dorsal line of the body.

Damaging systems:

• The maggot feeds on the developing grain.
• The infested pods do not show any external evidence of damage until the fully grow larvae chew holes in the pod walls.These bore the grains and make the tunnel in them.
• This hole provides an emergence "window" through which the adults exit the pod.
• Damaged grains do not mature and due to excreta fungus may develop in the grain.
• The infested grains loose their viability