Abstract
Members of the Old World hispine tribe, Coelaenomenoderini, are documented on host plants of Arecaceae, Cyperaceae, and Zingiberales. A few species are renowned pests of oil palm, especially in Africa. The host plants and natural history of Javeta pallida Baly, 1858, the only Indian species of the tribe, is reported for the first time. These beetles can densely infest indigenous wild date palms, Phoenix sylvestris (L.) Roxb. (Arecaceae), and also use the introduced date palm, Phoenix dactylifera L., which is an expanding crop in India. Javeta females lay single eggs and cover each with an ootheca. All larval stages mine the leaves and pupation occurs within the larval mine. Adults are exophagous, leaving linear feeding trenches. Natural and induced infestations of Javeta pallida on these two palms were observed and the potential of Javeta pallida as a pest of date palm in India is discussed. Javeta pallida completed development on Phoenix palms in 52–88 days (mean 66.38 days) with egg period 11–15 days (mean 12.8 days), larval period 21–54 days (mean 33.02 days) and pupal period 17–23 days (mean 20.52 days). Elasmus longiventris Verma and Hayat and Pediobius imbreus Walker (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) parasitize the larva and pupa of Javeta pallida.
Highlights
The palm genus Phoenix L. (Arecaceae: Phoeniceae) comprises 15 species which are grown as ornamentals and for food and beverage
According to Krishnamurthi et al (1969), about 29 million palms of P. sylvestris exist in India; they summarized its biology, cultivation practices and myriad local uses in the encyclopedic Wealth of India Series
The goal of this paper is to report the host plants and natural history of J. pallida for the first time, taking advantage of a heavy infestation on Phoenix sylvestris in southern India (Fig. 2)
Summary
The palm genus Phoenix L. (Arecaceae: Phoeniceae) comprises 15 species which are grown as ornamentals and for food and beverage. Nine Phoenix species occur in southern Asia (Henderson 2009; Govaerts et al 2015). Phoenix sylvestris (L.) Roxb., the silver date palm, the wild date palm or the date sugar palm, is a medium-sized palm with solitary stems up to 20 m in height (Fig. 1) (Henderson 2009). According to Krishnamurthi et al (1969), about 29 million palms of P. sylvestris exist in India; they summarized its biology, cultivation practices and myriad local uses in the encyclopedic Wealth of India Series. Banerji (2012) discussed the wild date palm and the near-mythical status of the palm sugar in Bengali gastronomy (West Bengal state in India and the adjoining area of Bangladesh that form the erstwhile Bengal). Thirteen species of insect herbivores have been documented on P. sylvestris (Mathur and Singh 1961; Howard et al 2001)
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