Borers of palms.

Abstract

This chapter describes the borers of palms (Palmae or Arecaceae). A borer is defined here as an insect that makes a tunnel by chewing or burrowing into the stem, crown, unopened inflorescences, flowers, fruits, peduncles, petioles, fronds or roots of a palm. The insect borers that use palms as hosts are found in the following taxa: Coleoptera (Curculionidae, Bostrychidae, Bruchidae, Lymexylidae, Scarabaeidae, Lucanidae and Cerambycidae); Lepidoptera (Castniidae, Tineidae and Glyphipterigidae); and Isoptera.

Potential of an indigenous strain of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana as a biological control agent against the Red Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus

“…Because B. bassiana can fulfil its life cycle in R. ferrugineus and B. bassianainfected adults can transmit the pathogen to other individuals of the same population and even to the following generation, strategies aimed at attracting and infecting adult weevils could prove the most successful. Adult weevils are highly attracted by kairomone leaking during vegetative production practices that include the removal of offshoots and pruning (Giblin-Davis, 2001). These zones are often the most attractive places for oviposition and, therefore, may be the best candidates for localized treatments with fungi.…”

Current status of red palm weevil in Turkey

“…The immature stages develop within the palm trunk (stipe), destroy its vascular system and eventually cause the collapse and death of the tree. The pest is widely distributed, occurring in Oceania, Asia, Africa, Europe (several countries around the Mediterranean Basin) and the Middle East (Giblin‐Davis, 2001). It was first detected in Turkey in 2005 (Karut & Kazak, 2005) and has caused severe damage to palms by destroying thousands of trees in parks and gardens.…”

Red Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier, 1790): Threat of Palms

“…The genus Rhynchophorus belongs to RPW that has a pan tropical and subtropical distribution, comprehending in total 10 species (Wattanapongsiri, 1966;Hallett et al, 2004;Rugman-Jones et al, 2013). These palm weevils are relatively large insects with the adults attaining 5 cm long and 2 cm wide, whilst the larvae could reach 6.4 cm long and 2.5 cm wide (Giblin-Davis, 2001). The identification of specimens of genus Rhynchophorus is based on the analysis of a set of traits including the pronotum and scutellum, mandibles shape and the dorsal, lateral and ventral aspects of the cephalic capsule including the basal and distal submentum and chetotaxy ( Fig.…”