Transmission of a baculovirus in populations of Oryctes rhinoceros

Abstract

The transmission of the baculovirus of Oryctes rhinoceros, previously called Rhabdionvirus oryctes, was studied. O. rhinoceros adults became infected with the virus when kept in a mixture of sawdust and ground-up virus-killed larvae or together with other virus-infected adults. In the field, mated females were more frequently infected than unmated females. Adults developing from larvae that had survived exposure to various dosages of the virus were not infected. No virus infections occurred in larvae hatching from eggs surface-contaminated with the virus. Larvae hatching from eggs laid by virus-infected females very rarely were infected. In the O. rhinoceros population the virus is transmitted most frequently during mating, possibly when the uninfected partner contacts virus material excreted by the infected partner. The virus can be transmitted in a similar way when infected and healthy beetles feed together in palm trees. Beetles visiting larval breeding sites containing freshly virus-killed larvae can become infected. Virus-infected beetles can pass the infection to healthy larvae when visiting a breeding site.