Hassan Y. AlAyied, alayedh@kacst.edu.sa, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Natural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, P. O. Box 6086, Riyadh 11442, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Red date palm weevil (RDW) Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is the most devastating economic pest of data palm Phoenix dactylifera L. with wide geographical distribution. In Arabian Peninsula, it was detected attacking date palm in mid 1980s. In Saudi Arabia, it was recorded for the 1st time in 1986 in Al-Katif Region. This polyphagous insect is also widely distributed in southern Asia and Melanesia where it feeds on a variety of palms including coconut, sago, date, and oil palm. Comparison of relative date palm host plant cultivars preference studies on Red date palm weevil oviposition has been investigated at Natural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The experiment has been carried out in a 1m ×1m × 20cm pixy glass arena provided with steel mesh with zipper on the top to carry out different operations . Sixteen females with one week old mated females of RDW were taken form lab colony. Eight different local date palm cultivars Khalas, Khasab, Sillage, Sukkary, Khuddary, Barhee, Nabute and Minifi were selected for this experiment. Females were offered 2-cm soft tissues from the apical region. Slices of 1-cm thickness from soft tissue are being provided to females for eggs laying and are replaced after every 2-day. These slices are examined for number of eggs laid to compare eggs laying preference of RDW on various date palm cultivars.
Species 1: Coleoptera Curculionidae
Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (red date palm weevil, RDW)