What kills the palms of our parks?

30-10-2015

An invasive species is spreading among ornamental palms. It is the red palm weevil, a beetle from Asia.

The red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) is an invasive species and pest ornamental palms in many coastal cities in the country. It is native to Southeast Asia and Polynesia. He arrived in Spain from palm imports from Egypt in 1995 and in Catalonia in late 2005. Also the Palm Grove was affected. For this reason it was banned for a while importing palm of countries that knew the presence of the pest, but the free movement of goods within the EU and importing countries that are unaware of their presence others focus occurred which caused the repeal of the ban. It has even reached America and Central America.
It is a large cockroach (2 to 5 cm) from the family of curculionidae popularly known as morruts, or weevil beetles. This family is characterized by an extension of the head and beak-shaped antennas that open like a palm to the tip. The red palm weevil lays up to 300-400 eggs on leaves or injuries. The larvae excavate galleries for soft tissues. The larva has no legs is whitish and has hardened his head and dark brown glossy with strong jaws. In the last stages reaches up to 5 cm. Makes buds to metamorphose itself palm pulp. The adults are good rockets and so can move to other palms.

In Catalonia, the worst affected species are Phoenix canariensis and Phoenix dactylifera and Washingtonia lesser extent. The symptoms of infestation are obvious when the palm is already quite affected and there is much to do. Start with a dry leaf plants and palm few weeks it is dead. For this reason we recommend the destruction of infested units and transmission control system. It can detect the presence with specialized listening devices. Tested insecticides force and uneven yields have opened research biological warfare against the plague based fungi and microorganisms. South of the peninsula seems to have implanted permanently. The preventive treatments are injected insecticides periodically and points scattered throughout the palm. It has also been proven pheromone trapping (odorous substances that attract). Despite all efforts have died many palm trees. The main cause of the plague are maintenance costs of disposal of the units concerned that slow actions and cause the spread.

Information complemetaria:
The plague of red palm weevil. Website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food
Red palm weevil war. Magazine Ecoticas

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