Red Palm Weevil

 Red Palm Weevil
Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier)
(Coleoptera: curculionidae)
 

Prepared by

Dr. Hasanin Yousef Al-Shalji

Head of Palm Tree Program

 

Pest existence and prevalence

 

Original home and  prevalence of red palm weevil

 

Red palm weevil in the Mediterranean and Arab region 2019

 

 

Description of red palm weevil life cycle

 

Why the red palm weevil  is considered a devastating pest:

• The larva lives in disguise in the host tissues .
• Early detection is difficult.
• The pest can fly for a distance of 0.8-1.2 km/trip.
• It attacks young trees (age under 20 years), which means 50% of 100 million trees are at risk .
• The effect of biotic factors is weak in controlling the pest.
• The pest is not related to the family of the tree, but rather to the age of the tree (6-10 years).
• The larva lives in disguise.
• It has a high fertility and fecundity.
• Mating is multiple and can occur at any time.

The egg + larvae

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adult + pupa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The adult

 

 

Physical differences