Potential role of microbial pathogens in control of red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) ‐ A Review

Abstract

The invasive Red Palm Weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is one of the most destructive pests of ornamental and economically important palms globally. It has been found in 50 % of date‐growing and 15 % of coconut‐producing countries in the world. Synthetic organic insecticides have been the default method to combat this pest, but they are clearly inefficient due to the secretive nature of the insect and there is concern about non‐target effects from blanket spraying. For this reason, there is increasing interest in biological control methods such as the possible use of microbial entomopathogens, which might be incorporated into IPM approaches. In this review we summarize research work on microbial control agents, their effectiveness against RPW and their integration with other control measures.

Acoustic Comparisons of Red Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) Mortality in Naturally Infested Date Palms after Injection with Entomopathogenic Fungi or Nematodes, Aluminum Phosphide Fumigation, or Insecticidal Spray Treatments

“…This study is supportive of other studies that evaluated the effectiveness of microorganisms [44] and fungal treatments against RPW [26,45]. RPW can be managed by microorganisms that cause infection in insects [46].…”

Histopathological studies of red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, (Olivier) larvae and adults to evaluate certain nano pesticides

“…The red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (RPW) (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is one of the most serious pest of different species of palm (Habib et al, 2017;Faleiro, 2006;Murphy and Briscoe, 1999). The originality of RPW is south and Southeast Asia from coconut (El-Shafie et al, 2013;Yasin et al, 2017). In mid-1980s the Gulf region become under threat RPW which spread rapidly to many countries of Asia and Africa by transportation of ornamental palms (Faleiro et al, 2012).…”

Assessing immunocompetence in red palm weevil adult and immature stages in response to bacterial challenge and entomopathogenic nematode infection

“…Two entomopathogenic nematodes species commonly used against the RPW in lab, semifield and field conditions (Mazza et al, 2014;Yasin et al, 2017) These strains have never been tested against RPW and were selected for their peculiar characteristics (such as thermal tolerance, foraging strategies and habitat specialization, Griffin, 2012), making them promising control agents also for other invasive insect pests (Torrini et al, 2014(Torrini et al, , 2016(Torrini et al, , 2017Paoli et al, 2017;Marianelli et al, 2018). Nematode strains were reared at 24°C using greater wax moth Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) larvae as host and the infective juveniles (IJs) that emerged from the bodies of dead hosts were recovered using modified White traps (Kaya & Stock, 1997).…”