HOOK RPW and ISCA smart traps: Revolutionary new tools for the management of the red palm weevil in Gulf countries

The red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, has caused significant losses to the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L) industry throughout the Middle East, due to eradication of infested palms and decline of fruit production, since its introduction into this region in the 1980s. Monitoring of RPW is largely conducted through visual inspections of damage to date palms, and counts of RPW captured in bucket traps placed in palm fields, containing an aggregation pheromone and water with food baits. Pheromone bucket traps are difficult to maintain, requiring frequent servicing (replacement of water and food bait at least once every two weeks) in order to remain effective. As a result, compliance with the necessary trap maintenance schedule is low, and the number of traps that can be deployed within a given field is limited. Despite their shortcomings, these traps have continued to represent the standard for RPW monitoring and control for the past three decades. We will discuss the likely effects of the introduction of two innovative technologies to the management of RPW in the Gulf region, as potential improvements upon the traditional trapping method: HOOK RPW, a semiochemical formulation that attracts and kills RPW as well as the standard pheromone trap without the need for food baits or water, and with a substantially longer field life; and the ISCA Smart Trap, a highly sensitive, accurate electronic trap capable of instantaneously transmitting capture data to the Internet for immediate analysis. By eliminating the need for frequent servicing, HOOK RPW could strengthen current mass trapping programs by allowing for a higher density of trap placement in infested fields, or possibly even do away with the traps altogether, if applied as a stand-alone attract and kill formulation. ISCA Smart Traps will revolutionize the outdated data collection methods currently employed in the Gulf region by providing automated, real-time reports of the pest’s activity in the field, thereby enabling faster, better informed RPW control.