Micro-CT to Document the Coffee Bean Weevil, Araecerus fasciculatus (Coleoptera: Anthribidae), Inside Field-Collected Coffee Berries (Coffea canephora).

Ignacio Alba-Alejandre,Fernando Vega,Javier Alba-Tercedor

doi:10.3390/insects9030100

Ignacio Alba-Alejandre, Fernando Vega + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/insects9030100

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Abstract

The coffee bean weevil, Araecerus fasciculatus (De Geer) (Coleoptera: Anthribidae), is a cosmopolitan insect with >100 hosts, and has been reported as a pest of stored coffee. During a study involving the coffee berry borer, we observed coffee bean weevils emerging from field-collected coffee berries and used micro-computerized tomography (micro-CT) scans to observe the insect inside the berry. Two eggs had eclosed inside the berry, resulting in observations of a newly eclosed adult beetle and a 5th instar larva, each feeding on one of the two seeds. This is the first time since 1775, when the insect was first described, that the insect has been observed inside a coffee berry.

Highlights

IntroductionThe genus Araecerus Schönherr comprises ca. 75 species [1], with the coffee bean weevil, Araecerus fasciculatus (De Geer) (Coleoptera: Anthribidae), being the most economically important
The genus Araecerus Schönherr comprises ca. 75 species [1], with the coffee bean weevil, Araecerus fasciculatus (De Geer) (Coleoptera: Anthribidae), being the most economically important.Chittenden [2,3] coined the name coffee bean weevil and Valentine [1] has published a succinct account on the controversy involving the many different scientific names used for the insect.The coffee bean weevil is ca. 4–5 mm long [4], has a worldwide distribution, over 100 hosts, and is mostly considered a stored product pest [5,6]
6 months, and Abrahão and Bitran [9] reported 20% losses in coffee stored for 9 months

Summary

Introduction

The genus Araecerus Schönherr comprises ca. 75 species [1], with the coffee bean weevil, Araecerus fasciculatus (De Geer) (Coleoptera: Anthribidae), being the most economically important. The insect has been occasionally reported as a pest of stored coffee beans, into which females insert an egg 1–2 mm deep, followed by larval consumption of the bean [7]. Even though it has been reported that the coffee bean weevil only attacks stored green coffee beans [12,13], the insect attacks coffee berries in the field. Mentions that the insect can be found in coffee plantations, in small numbers, and Abrahão and Bitran [9] reported 4.2% infestation in the field. The Directoria de Agricultura [18] in Brazil recommended that “When the insect attacks the coffee fruit still on the tree, the fruit should be harvested and burned or disinfected, because otherwise, it will be impossible to avoid that the larvae, which are inside the beans, reach the adult stage”. We report on the use of micro-computerized tomography (micro-CT) scans to observe and record coffee bean weevils inside coffee berries collected in a coffee plantation in Vietnam

Coffee Berries

Micro-CT Scans

Results and Discussion

Conclusions