Asian Palm Weevil

Description:

The Asian Palm Weevil, is a species of snout beetle. The adult beetles are relatively large, ranging between two and five centimeters long, and are usually a rusty red colour - but many colour variants exist. Weevil larvae can excavate holes in the trunk of a palm trees up to a metre long, thereby weakening and eventually killing the host plant. As a result, the weevil is considered a major pest in palm plantations. The adult causes some damage through feeding, the burrowing of the larva into the heart of the palm causes the greatest mortality of trees. The adult female lays approximately two hundred eggs on new growth in the crown of the palm, at the base of young leaves, or in open lesions on the plant. After laying, the female protects and secures the eggs with a secretion that rapidly hardens around the eggs. The back of these eggs possess special 'gill cover' structures that provide the developing insect with oxygen. The egg hatches into a white, legless larva. The larva will feed on the soft fibres and terminal buds, tunnelling through the internal tissue of the tree for about a month. The larvae can occasionally grow to a length of six to seven inches. At pupation, the larva will leave the tree and form a cocoon built of dry palm fibers in leaf litter at the base of the tree. The infestation of the pest can result in yellowing and wilting of palms, that may lead to the death of the affected plant. The crown wilts first, and lower leaves will follow, due to damage to vascular tissue. Major symptoms such as crown loss or leaf wilt are usually only visible long after the palm has become infested. By the time these external symptoms are observed, the damage is usually sufficient to kill the tree, and the infestation may have been present for six months or longer. The larval grub is considered a delicacy in much of Southeast Asia, Borneo in particular. They are eaten either raw, or roasted. Creamy tasting when raw, the flavor is sometimes compared to meat or bacon when cooked.

Habitat:

Bangladesh, Bahrain, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam, also Papua-New Guinea and Solomon Islands. It has most recently been reported in Slovenia, France, Italy, Malta, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Morocco, Aruba and the United States.

Notes:

Details from Wikipedia. My gardener had caught it from a Coconut tree in my garden and put it on a brick. After clicking some snaps he put it in the wild.