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Rhynchophorus ferrugineus
This guy was about 5cm from head to bottom. A species of snout beetle also known as the Asian palm weevil or sago palm weevil. 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 and have often been misidentified as different species (e.g., Rhynchophorus vulneratus). Weevil larvae can excavate holes in the trunk of 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, including the coconut palm, date palm and oil palm.
Originally from tropical Asia, the red palm weevil has spread to Africa and Europe, reaching the Mediterranean in the 1980s. It was first recorded in Spain in 1994, and in France in 2006. The weevil was first reported in the Americas on Curaçao in January 2009 and sighted the same year in Aruba. It was reported in the United States at Laguna Beach, CA late in 2010. In the European Union, there have been confirmed detections in Malta and Italy (Tuscany, Sicily and Campania), and there are suspect reports suggesting that it has established along the Mediterranean coast of France and Portugal. Researchers also suspect that it has established in Morocco, Algeria and other North African countries, but there remains no official confirmation. Originally from tropical zones, from Asia to Oceania. Its expansion began in the Middle East between the 80's and 90's. It reached Spain in 1993, Italy in 2004 and Portugal in 2007 due to the palm tree commerce.
Unfortunately the red palm weevil has reached Portugal and since last summer you can see lots of palm trees suffering with this plague all across Algarve. These days the strange thing is to see a healthy palm tree =(
Spotted on Dec 6, 2011
Submitted on Dec 8, 2011
4 Comments
Yes, we would see them clean and disinfect the trees and some of them had to be cut down. Now I haven't noticed that as much, but maybe that's a good thing? Maybe they are under control...
That's sad that it is decimating your palm trees. Are they doing anything to try to stop it?
I can't tell you for sure how it got here, but here is what I found out about it:
"Originally from tropical zones, from Asia to Oceania. Its expansion began in the Middle East between the 80's and 90's. It reached Spain in 1993, Italy in 2004 and Portugal in 2007 due to the palm tree commerce."
But definitely 2010-2011 was the worst years. We could see dead palm trees everywhere we went (we still do, but it doesn't seam to be spreading as much). Before these years I had never heard of the Red Palm Weevil, and in these years it became a common subject among the local population.
Wow, 5cm! That's huge for a weevil! You said it reached Portugal last summer, where did it come from?