INSECT PEST OF COCONUT

1. Oryctes rhinoceros : Scarabaeidae : Coleoptera

2. Rhynchophorus ferrugineus : Curculionidae : Coleoptera
3. Opisina arenosella : Xyloryctidae : Lepidoptera
4. Parasa lepida : Limacodidae : Lepidoptera
5. Aceria guerreronis : Eriophyidae : Acari

ASIATIC/COCONUT RHINOCEROS BEETLE (ORYCTES RHINOCEROS)

HOSTS: Coconut and other palms

EGGS

Adult female lay yellowish-white oval eggs which are about 3 mm in diameter. Eggs are
typically laid inside rotting vegetative matter. After one week, they swell and later hatch
within 11 to 13 days.

LARVA

Grub stage undergoes three instars before becoming a pupa. Grubs are yellowish-white
where the third instar grows to 60 to 100 mm in length. Cranium is dark brown, with
many round pits. There are minute setae on cranium.

PUPA

Pupa is yellowish-brown with about 50 mm in length. There are horn-shaped

protuberances on the anterior surface.

ADULTS

Adults are dark brown to black in color with shiny dorsum. Head with a prominent horn.
Male has longer horn than the female. Male is characterized by a rounded, shiny terminal
abdominal segment whereas female has a relatively hairier 'tail'. There are two tubercles
on the thoracic ridge.

DAMAGING SYMPTOM

 The adult beetle bores into the unopened fronds and spathes.
 The attacked frond when fully opened shows characteristic triangular/ diamond
cuts.
 Central spindle appears cut or toppled
 Holes with chewed fibre sticking out at the base of central spindle.
 The larvae of O. rhinoceros feed on rotting organic matter.
 MANAGEMENT:

(I) CULTURAL METHOD:

 Remove and burn all dead coconut trees in the garden (which are likely to
serve as breeding ground) to maintain good sanitation.
 Collect and destroy the various bio-stages of the beetle from the manure pits
(breeding ground of the pest) whenever manure is lifted from the pits.

(II) MECHANICAL METHOD:

 During peak period of population build up, the adult beetle may be extracted
from the palm crown using GI hooks.
 Set up light traps following the first rains in summer and monsoon period to
attract and kill the adult beetles.

(III) CHEMICAL METHOD:

 The topmost three leaf axils around the spindle may be filled with any of the
following mixtures as a prophylactic measure:
 For seedlings, apply Naphthalene balls 10.5 g (approx. three to four balls)
covered with fine sand, once in 45 days.
 Place Carbfuran 3 G 5 g in perforated sachets in two inner most leaf axils for 2
times at 6 months intervals.
 Treat manure pits and other possible breeding sites with Deltamethrin 2.5 SC.
Treatment will have to be repeated every six months

(IV) TRAP METHOD:

 Set up Rhino lure pheromone trap @ 5 traps/ha to trap and kill the beetles. The
dispenser may be hanged in a plastic bucket having 2 liter of insecticide
solution once in a week. Trapped beetles can be disposed off.

(V) BIOLOGICAL METHOD:

 Application of green muscardine fungus, Metarrhizium anisopliae @ 5 x 1011

spores / m3 - spray 250ml Metarrizhium culture + 750ml water in manure pits
to check the perpetuation of the pest.
 Soak castor cake at 1 kg in 5 liter of water in small mud pots and keep them in
the coconut gardens to attract and kill the adults.
 Apply mixture of either neem seed powder + sand (1:2) @150 g per palm or
neem seed kernel powder + sand (1:2) @150 g per palm in the base of the 3
inner most leaves in the crown.
 COCONUT BLACK HEADED CATERPILLAR (Opisina arenosella)

HOST: Coconut, toddy palm, date palm

DAMAGING SYMPTOM

 Dried, grey coloured leaflets on the lower crown presenting a sickly

appearance
 Affected leaflets showing galleries made of chewed up fibre, frassy material
and excreta with pale creamy caterpillar having reddish brown longitudinal
stripes and blackish brown head and thorax, retreating into the galleries, on the
under surface
 Green matter of husk in young nuts galleried, premature drying of nuts and
occasional exudation of gum from the affected nuts.

LIFE CYCLE:

The female moth lays eggs in small groups on the underside of coconut leaflets near to
feeding larvae. The larvae hatch from the eggs after three days on average, and then move
into the first of a series of larval instars.

Larvae of O. arenosella generally go through five instars, but have been recorded to go
through as many as eight instars in laboratory settings.

Adult coconut black-headed caterpillars rest under the surface of the damaged coconut palm
leaves, where most of the damage to the coconut fronds can be observed. Larvae construct
galleries of silk and frass, into which they retreat if disturbed. These galleries are also where
pupation occurs, which lasts approximately eight days.

MANAGEMENT

 The incidence of the pest is noticed from the month of November to May and from
August to November after rainfall. The coconut trees of all ages are attacked.
 Release the larval (Bethylid, Braconid and Ichneumonid) and pupal (Eulophid) on
(chalcid) parasitoids and predators periodically from January, to check the build up of
the pest during summer.
 Among the larval parasitoids, the bethylid Goniozus nephantidis is the most effective
in controlling the pest. The optimum level of release is 1:8 of host-parasitoid ratio.
The parasitoid should be released @3000/ha under the coconut trees when the pest is
in the 2nd or 3rd instar larval stage
 Remove and burn all affected leaves/leaflets.
 Spray malathion 50 EC 0.05% (1mi/lit) to cover the undersurface of the leaves
thoroughly in case of severe epidemic outbreak of the pest in young palms.
 Root feeding for the control of coconut Black headed caterpillar:
 Select a fresh and live root, cut sharply at an angle and insert the root in the
insecticidal solution containing monocrotophos 36 WSC 10 ml + water 10 ml in a 7 x
 10 cm polythene bag. Secure the bag tightly to the root with a cotton thread. Twenty
four hours later, check whether there is absorption. If there is no absorption select
another root. These methods should not be resorted to as a routine practice and it is
suggested only for cases of severe epidemic outbreak of the pest and when the
survival of the tree is threatened.

RED PALM WEEVIL (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus)

HOST: Coconut and other palms

SYMPTOM

 Adults cause feeding damage to the leaves but the larvae cause the most
important damage as they spend their whole lives in the trunk.
 Typical symptoms of damage are wilting and yellowing of central fronds or spear
clusters which collapse and rot subsequently emitting a characteristic alcoholic
odour
 Brownish ooze and chewed up fibre coming out of slits or cracks in the trunk
 Grubs making a lot of gnawing or ribbling sound and presence of fibrous cocoons in
the dying and dead trunks.

LIFE CYCLE

To lay eggs, females use their long beak, or rostrum, to chew a hole into palm tissue.
Eggs are then laid into this hole. Eggs may be laid in wounds, cracks, and crevices in
the trunk, from the collar region near the roots, up to the base of frond petioles and
axils near the crown of the palm. Females can lay 58-531 eggs which hatch in about
1-6 days. Larvae that hatch from eggs, feed on the surrounding palm tissue and bore
their way into the center of the palm. The tunnels larvae form as they feed fill with
frass (excrement and chewed fibers that have a highly distincitve odor) and plant sap.
Larvae may pass through 3-7 instars or stages that may last for about two months
before the pupal stage is reached. Larvae pupate inside cocoons in the palm trunk, or
in concealed places at the base of palm fronds. The pupal stage may last from 11 to 45
days. The entire life cycle, egg to adult, can take 45 to 139 days. Adult Red Palm
Weevil emerge from cocoons, and females can lay eggs for around 8 to 10 weeks.
Adult weevils live for about 2 to 3 months feeding on palms, and going through
several cycles of mating and egg laying before dying.

MANAGEMENT

Remove and burn all wilting or damaged palms in coconut gardens to prevent further
perpetuation of the pest.
Avoid injuries on stems of palms as the wounds may serve as oviposition sites for the
weevil.
Fill all holes in the stem with cement.
 Avoid the cutting of green leaves. If needed, they should be cut about 120 cm away
from the stem.
Fill the crown and the axils of top most three leaves with a mixture of fine sand
and neem seed powder or neem seed kernel powder (2:1) once in three months to
prevent the attack of rhinoceros beetle damage in which the red palm weevil lays
eggs.
Setting up of attractant traps (mud pots) containing sugarcane molasses 2½ kg or
toddy 2½ litres + acetic acid 5 ml + yeast 5 g + longitudinally split tender coconut
stem/logs of green petiole of leaves of 30 numbers in one acre to trap adult red palm
weevils in large numbers.
Install pheromone trap @1/2 ha
Root feeding: As under black headed caterpillar

NETTLE CATERPILLAR, BLUE-STRIPED NETTLE GRUB (Parasa lepida)

Symptoms of Damage

Defoliation

Egg: Flat shiny eggs on the under surface of leaves

Larva: Greenish body with white lines and four rows of spiny scoli tipped red or
black, which cause irritation and pain.

Pupa: It pupates in a compact elliptical chocolate brown shell like cocoon, which is
convex above and flat ventrally as stems. Cocoons are covered with irritating spines
and hairs

Adult: Adult moth has green wings with prominent dark patch at the base of each
forewing.

COCONUT ERIOPHYID MITE: Aceria guerreronis

SYMPTOMS OF DAMAGE

 Triangular pale or yellow patches close to perianth

 Necrotic tissues
 Brown colour patches, longitudinal fissures and splits on the husk
 Oozing of the gummy exudation from the affected surface
 Reduced size and copra content.
 Malformed nuts with cracks and hardened husk

Identification of the pest

Nymph and Adult - Pale in colour with elongate body and worm like appearance

Management
Apply urea 1.3 kg, super phosphate 2.0 and muriate of potash 3.5 kg/palm/year

Neem cake @ 5 kg and organic manure 50 kg/palm/ year

Borax 50 g + gypsum 1.0kg + Manganese sulphate 0.5 kg/palm/ year

Grow intercrop (sun hemp, four crops/year) and shelter belt with casuarina all round the
coconut garden to check further entry

monocrotophos 36 WSC @ 2 ml / lit in alternation with neem azal 1% 5ml/lit as spot

application

ii. Root feeding

Root feeding with TNAU - Agro Biocide 30 ml/tree

TNAU - Agro biocide - 30 ml/tree - (60 days after Carbosulfan root feeding).

Monocrotophos 36 WSC @ 15ml of water

After root feeding, next harvest should be done 45 days later.