Posts Tagged: red palm weevil
FAO recommends considering eating insects - UCR entomologist follows through
I was recently shown this youtube video of Dr. Mark Hoddle of UCR on a collecting trip for red palm weevil. Like a train wreck - you know what is going to happen but you still watch.
Enjoy!
Red Palm Weevil
Recently the Red Palm Weevil (RPW) Rhynchophorus ferrugineus was spotted in Orange County. This red striped beetle is widely considered to be the most damaging insect pest of palms worldwide and its arrival is causing considerable alarm in Southern California.
Female RPW use their long beak to chew a hole into palm tissue and can lay up to 531 eggs into the hole. Eggs may also be laid in existing cracks and crevices within the palm. Typically the eggs hatch in less than one week. Once the weevils become adults they reproduce for two to three months before dying. The population can become so large that one of the symptoms of RPW infestation is hearing "gnawing" sounds from inside the tree caused by larvae feeding.
To learn more about this pest including who to contact if you see a RPW, additional symptoms to look for, and what is being done to protect California’s landscapes, ornamental palm industry, and date growing regions please see UC Riverside’s Center for Invasive Species Research.
Another palm tree infested with red palm weevil
Officials have confirmed that the red palm weevil is not confined to a single palm tree in Laguna Beach, according to a story in the Daily Pilot. Just blocks from the first infested tree, another Canary Islands date palm is being killed by red palm weevil.
UC Riverside Cooperative Extension entomologist Mark Hoddle said the crown of the second infested palm has dropped off, and the top of the trunk is ringed with a 'halo' of palm fronds.
"The trunk of the palm has been heavily damaged internally by feeding red palm weevils. The central portion of the trunk now contains a highly fermented and very wet 'mash' of plant material," the story quoted Hoddle.
The dying tree contained portions of at least nine dead adult weevils, one live adult and seven empty pupal cases.
It is now likely that additional palms in North Laguna are infested with this destructive pest, the story said.
CDFA, the Orange County Ag Commissioner, USDA and UC Cooperative Extension are hosting the first of several informational meetings from 10 a.m. to 12 noon Friday, Nov. 5, in the Laguna Beach City Council Chambers, 505 Forest Ave. At the meeting, experts will inform local government officials, arborists, public works officials, landscapers and pest control advisers about the current red palm weevil situation and how to identify the pest and its feeding damage.
Future meetings will target other industry members and the public.
Details about the meeting and more information are on the UC Riverside Center for Invasive Species Research blog.
Southern California Public Radio's Madeline Brand interviewed Hoddle about red palm weevil for a story broadcast last Friday.
Red palm weevil larva emerges from its cocoon.
Red palm weevil found in Orange County
Palm tree growers, government officials and UC scientists are moving quickly to prevent the spread of red palm weevil, which made its first U.S. appearance a month ago in Laguna Beach, according to an article in the Riverside Press-Enterprise. The pest has caused enormous damage to palm trees in other parts of the world. Its larvae excavate large holes in the trunks of many types of palms - including coconut, date and oil palms, canary, queen and fan palms - killing a mature tree in about a year.
"This is central to our livelihood," the story quoted Albert Keck, chair of the California Date Commission and a third-generation date farmer.
Press-Enterprise reporter Mark Muckenfuss noted in the story that concern about the palm tree pest goes well beyond farmers' pocketbooks. Palm trees add a distinctive character to local landscapes.
"Palms are iconic to California," Keck was quoted.
Originally from Southeast Asia, the red palm weevil has spread to Africa and Europe, reaching the Mediterranean in the 1980s. It was first recorded in Spain in 1994.
UC Riverside entomologist Mark Hoddle said the weevil was probably brought into the United States as eggs, larvae or pupae hidden inside imported palms.
"These can travel great distances because they live with their food supply," Hoddle said.
A UC Riverside news release said scientists, growers and regulators will gather at 2 p.m., Friday, Oct. 29, at UC Riverside to discuss a collaborative effort to manage red palm weevil and a campaign to alert and educate Southern California homeowners about the threat.
Detailed information about red palm weevil is on the UC Center for Invasive Species Research website.
Red palm weevils are quite large and have a slender snout.