PESTS of the COCONUT PALM Mi Pests and Diseases Are Particularly Important Among the Factors Which Limit Agricultural Production and Destroy Stored Products
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PESTS of the COCONUT PALM mi Pests and diseases are particularly important among the factors which limit agricultural production and destroy stored products. This publication concerns the pests of the coconut palm and is intended for the use of research workers, personnel of plant protection services and growers Descriptions are given for each pest (adult or early stages), with information on the economic importance of the species the type of damage caused, and the control measures which have been applied (with or without success) up to the present time. The text deals with 110 species of insects which attack the palm in the field; in addition there arc those that attack copra in storage, as well as the various pests that are not insects This is the first of a series of publications on the pests and diseases of economically importani plants and plant products, and is intended primarily to fill a gap in currently available entomological and phytopathological literature and so to assist developing countries. PESTS OF THE COCONUT PALM Copyrighted material FAO Plant Production and Protection Series No. 18 PESTS OF THE COCONUT PALM b R.J.A.W. Lever FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome 1969 Thl 6 One 0A8R-598-HSG9 First printing 1969 Second printing 1979 P-14 ISBN 92-5-100857-4 © FAO 1969 Printed in Italy Copyrighted material FOREWORD Shortage of food is still one of the most pressing problems in many countries. Among the factors which limit agricultural production and destroy stored products, pests and diseases are particularly important. When left unchecked, they are liable to cause such serious losses as to dis- courage further attempts to grow certain crops. The application of ra- tional control measures requires thorough knowledge of the biology and behavior of the pests and diseases, but only too often the necessary basic knowledge is lacking in the very countries in which it is most needed. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (fao), fully aware of this problem, is producing a series of publications on the pests and diseases of economically important plants and plant products, primarily to fill a gap in currently available entomological and phytopatho- logical literature and so to assist developing countries. The first of these publications concerns the pests of the coconut palm ( Cocos nucifera) and is intended for the use of research workers, personnel of plant protection services and growers. Its objective is to present an account of the principal species — both invertebrate and vertebrate — that are harmful to the coconut palm, and to do so for the whole of the tropical belt. To this end, the description of each pest (adults or early stages) has been made as brief as possible, to allow space for information on the economic importance of the species, the type of damage caused, and the control measures which have been applied, with or without success, up to the present time. It is hoped that the work thus planned will sat- isfy the requirements of those for whom it is intended; readers who are less familiar with the entomological problems of the coconut palm will find in the Introduction definitions of the principal technical and scientific terms used in the text. In the course of the preparation of this work it has become apparent that numerous insect species recorded over many years in the literature as coconut pests are merely casual feeders on coconut or cause only minor and occasional damage. It has therefore seemed desirable to omit such species, in order to avoid overloading the text with names whose value in the present context is doubtful. The monograph of Lepesme (1947) mentions no less than 750 species of insects associated with the coconut Copyrighted material VI PESTS OF THE COCONUT PALM palm, and indicates that over one fifth of these are specific to it. In the present work, 110 species of insects which attack the palm in the field are dealt with; in addition, there are those that attack copra in storage,' as well as the various pests that are not insects. Most of the pests of the coconut palm will readily attack other species of palm. Many of the insects known as coconut pests in various parts of the world have also attacked the oil palm of West Africa which is now cultivated in Asia, tropical America and elsewhere. The alternative host plants of coconut pests are, in general, still very inadequately known. The bibliographical references incorporated in the text are a selection of the very large number of published works concerning pests of the coconut palm. To illustrate the wealth of the literature on this subject, it suffices to mention that the study by Gressitt (1953) of the single species Oryctis rhinoceros, in one relatively small area of the Pacific, contains no less than 310 bibliographical references. Copyrighted material ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author is indebted to many persons for help in the preparation of this work. Special thanks are due to J.P. Doncaster, Keeper of Ento- mology, British Museum (Natural History), London, and to various members of his staff to whom problems of nomenclature have been referred to E.O. ; Pearson, Director of the Commonwealth Institute of Entomology, London, for identification of species by his staff and for kindly permitting the repro- duction of illustrations already published in the Bulletin of Entomological Research; and to the Anti-Locust Research Centre, London, especially to Sir Boris Uvarov, Fellow of the Royal Society, for information on the Orthoptera. The author also wishes to record his gratitude to the following specialists: W.E. Bain (Imperial Chemical Industries), J.A. Freeman (Ministry of Agri- culture, United Kingdom), A.H. Green (Unilever, Ltd.), R.W. Paine (for- merly entomologist in Fiji), J-J.H. Szent-lvany (formerly entomologist. De- partment of Agriculture, Papua and New Guinea), G.F.. Tidbury (Common- wealth Bureau of Horticulture and Plantation Crops), J. Walton (Lever’s Pacific Plantations Ptv, Ltd.), A. Wattanapongsiri (University of Missouri, United States) and F.N. Wright (Department of Technical Co-operation, United Kingdom). The Verlag fur Recht und Gesellschaft A.G., Basle, has permitted the citation of certain passages from Pests of crops in warm climates and their control, 1962, by R. Wyniger; Longmans, Green and Co. have allowed the reproduction of a sketch of a coconut from Plant life in Malaya, 1954, by R.E. Holttum; the n.v. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve, The Hague, the Nether- lands, and P. Lechevalier, Paris, have authorized the reproduction of pho- tographs and the redrawing of illustrations already published in L.G.E. Kalshoven, De plagen van de cultuur-gewassen in Indonesie, 1950-51, and in P. Lepesme, l-es insectes des palmiers, 1947, respectively. Photographs of co- conut palm pests and their damage have been received for publication from the Institut de recherche pour les huiles et les oleagineux (irho), Paris, France; from the Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; from the Institut national de la recherche agronomique (inra), Station de recherches de lutte biologique et de biococnotiquc. La Miniere, Versailles, France; from P. Grison and B. Hurpin, of the above-mentioned inra Copyrighted material ; VU1 PESTS OF THE COCONUT PALM station; from C. Kurian, Central Coconut Research Station, Kayangulam, Kerala, India; from M.J. Way, Imperial College of Science and Technol- ogy, Sunninghill, Ascot, Berks., England; from K.J. Marschall, insect pathologist, at present specialist for the United Nations Development Program/Special Fund-FAO-South Pacific Commis sion project, Research on the control of the coconut palm rhinoceros beetle, Apia, Western Samoa and from F.Q. Otanes, National Research Council, Manila, the Philippines. Several photographs of locusts and of the rhinoceros beetle have been provided by fao. The author also expresses his thanks to his wife, a former student of the Slade School of Fine Arts, London, for certain sketches included in the text. He also records that it is a pleasure to acknowledge his indebtedness to that unknown band of abstractors who, over many years, have provided in the Review of Applied Entomology, Horticultural Abstracts and Tropical Abstracts invaluable summaries of entomological papers and indexes of pests. He is similarly grateful to the staffs of the libraries in London of the Commonwealth Institute of Entomology, the British Museum (Natural History), the India Office, the Commonwealth Relations Office, the Department of Technical Co-operation, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Tropical Products Institute. Copyrighted material NOMENCLATURE Recent changes in nomenclature In recent years, the scientific names of certain of the insects and other animals associated with the coconut palm have been changed in the light of revisions of the genera concerned. These changes, so far as they have become known to the author, are indicated in the appropriate places in the text; most of them involve the generic name only. Further reference to such changes will be found on page 5. Similarly, the names of certain of the plant species which are alternative hosts of some of the pests of the coconut palm have been changed; the royal palm, for example, known in the past as Oreodoxa regia, must now be called Roystonea elata. Popular and scientific names of palms of economic importance In order to avoid unnecessary repetition in referring to palms of eco- nomic importance which are alternative host plants of coconut pests, only the generic names of these palms are used in the text. The popular and the full scientific names of the more important of the palms in question are listed below: Areca palm Areca catechu Date palm . Phoenix dactylifera Nibong . Oncosperma tigillaria Oil palm . Elaeis guineensis Palmyra . Borassus flabeUifera Rattan palm Calamus spp.