Native to South Asia and Melanesia where Area-wide control and monitoring programs for RPW depend coconuts (Cocosnucifera L.) are a highly preferred host, RPW heavily on trapping active adult weevils using bucket traps

ARTICLE INFORMATION Received: September 2, 2011 Received in revised form: November 20, 2011 Accepted: December 3, 2011 Email: A six day trial evaluating three different trapping methods for red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, was conducted in a commercial coconut plantation in the Philippines. Results clearly demonstrated that the treatment composed of freshly cut coconut palm stumps with stacks of sectioned trunks and palm hearts combined with the RPW aggregation pheromone (Ferrolure), the synergist ethyl acetate (weevil magnet), and food additives (either fermented dates of sections of palm hearts) was most effective at attracting and retaining adult RPW (n = 23 adults captured in six days). Two other treatments, bottle traps with aggregation pheromone and synergists, or freshly cut coconut palm stumps and stacks of cut palm trunks, failed to capture to adult RPW over the course of this experiment. * Corresponding Author: INTRODUCTION aggregation pheromone, a two component blend of “ferrugineol” (4-methyl-5-nonanol) and “ferrugineone” (4The red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus methyl-5-nonane) (Hallett et al., 1993), pheromone (Olivier), (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is considered to be the technology has been widely used to manage RPW in world's most serious invasive pest of palms. Larvae feed commercial date plantations (e.g., Saudi Arabia) and for internally causing extensive damage which can result in palm monitoring populations in urban areas (e.g., California). mortality. Native to South Asia and Melanesia where Area-wide control and monitoring programs for RPW depend coconuts (Cocosnucifera L.) are a highly preferred host, RPW heavily on trapping active adult weevils using bucket traps has been moved globally through the international trade in baited with the aggregation pheromone, synergists (e.g., ethyl palms (Murphy and Briscoe, 1995). It is an economic pest of acetate), and food additives (e.g., fermented dates, sugar cane, date palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.) in the Middle East with or pieces of freshly cut palm). Despite the commercial ~50% of these nations having RPW infestations (El-Mergawy availability of this pheromone and recommendations for its and Al-Ajlan, 2011; Faleiro, 2006) and the FAO has identified use as part of an IPM program in date plantations, little RPW as a category-1 pest of date palms in this region. information is available on the utility of trapping RPW, Ornamental plantings of Canary Islands palms (P. canariensis especially the red stripe “vulneratus” morph, in the native Chabaud) in urban areas in the Mediterranean (e.g., France, area of this pest. Sivapragasam et al. (2010) demonstrated that Italy, and Spain) have been severely affected by this pest the “vulneratus” morph is attracted to the RPW aggregation (Faleiro 2006). The red stripe form of RPW (i.e., adults are pheromone in coconut plantations in Malaysia, which black with a dorsal red stripe that runs from the anterior encompasses part of the native range of this color morph margin of the pronotum to the posterior margin of the (Wattanapongsiri, 1966). Here we present results from metanotum), formerly known as R. vulneratus (Panzer) and R. trapping trials conducted to assess the attractiveness of the schach Olivier, before being synomized by Hallett et. al., RPW aggregation pheromone together with the ethyl acetate (2004) with R. ferrugineus, is a potential new palm pest in synergist and food additives to the “vulneratus” morph in a Southern California (USA) following its discovery in Orange commercial coconut plantation in the Philippines, an area that County in 2010 (Hoddle, 2011a,b,c). constitutes part of the native range of this color form With the identification and synthesis of the male produced (Wattanapongsiri, 1966).