Abstract
During studies to adapt pheromone trapping of Rhynchophorus palmarum to the special coconut growing conditions at the Colombian Pacific coast, 152 atypically-colored specimens were captured in a total collection of 53,802 of the normally completely black weevil. Five specimens had the typical coloration of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, an invasive species recently introduced to Aruba and Curação. A regional expansion of this invasion to the South American continent was feared and all atypical specimens were submitted to taxonomic analysis. Both conventional and molecular methods were employed. Conventional taxonomics confirmed the samples as belonging to R. palmarum but registered undescribed and species-atypical morphological variability in the subgular suture (wide vs. narrow), the ratio between intraocular distance and width of antennal scrobes (>0.35 vs. < 0.29) and the indentation of the mandibles (up to three mandibular teeth vs. bilobed). Molecular analysis placed all samples inspected, black and reddish alike, firmly within the R. palmarum group and the hypothesis of having inter-specific hybrids was rejected using co-dominant single sequence repeat markers with allelic specificity for both species.
Highlights
The American or black palm weevil (APW), Rhynchophorus palmarum (L), is on record as the worst pest of palms in tropical America
The APW/red ring disease (RRD) complex has destroyed thousands of coconut palms, the problem being bad in Tumaco Bay at the Colombian Pacific coast, where entire plantations are wiped out every 12–15 years [2]
All palm weevils were captured in traps baited with aggregation pheromone (Rhynchophorol, Laboratorio de Bioproductos, Bogotá, Colombia) of R. palmarum at Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) headquarter in 2012 and 2013
Summary
The American or black palm weevil (APW), Rhynchophorus palmarum (L), is on record as the worst pest of palms in tropical America. It is a primary pest of palms, its pest status is greatly aggravated by its vectoring of the nematode, Bursaphelenchus cocophilus (Cobb), the cause of the red ring disease (RRD) [1]. The APW/RRD complex has destroyed thousands of coconut palms, the problem being bad in Tumaco Bay at the Colombian Pacific coast, where entire plantations are wiped out every 12–15 years [2]. In an effort to alleviate the problem we tried to adapt the standard method of APW control— mass trapping using aggregation pheromone baited traps—originally developed for coconut and PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0143210.
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