Stenodiplosis Panici

an insect of the family Cecidomyiidae; a very serious pest of millet. The body measures 1.6–2.0 mm long. The coloration is yellow-brown, with black eyes, black thorax and back sections, and a reddish abdomen. S. panici appears during heading of barnyard millet and panicle formation of pearl millet. It does not feed at this time. The females lay eggs in the unopened flowers, and the resulting larvae feed on the ovaries and other parts of the flowers. The damaged flowers remain fruitless, and the millet harvest is decreased. The development of one generation takes 15 to 45 days; depending on the zone, one to five generations are produced per year.

Measures to combat S. panici include fall plowing (with a jointer) of the millet fields and other fields containing plants on which the insect feeds, burning the economically worthless remains after harvesting the millet, planting millet far away from the wintering site of the insects, sowing the millet early, and treating the crops with insecticides during the insect’s peak periods of reproduction.