A novel report on morphological study of Red Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) from district Bannu KPK, Pakistan

AbstractRhynchophorus ferrugineus commonly known as Red Palm Weevil is a worldwide distributed and destructive pest of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) belonging to the family Curculionidae and order Coleoptera. In the present study a total of 365 trees were inspected for Red Palm Weevil infestation in 15 date palm growing areas in district Bannu during September 2013 to June 2014. 500 adults were obtained by capturing alive and dead adult from trees, cocoons and larvae rearing to analyze the size of different body parts and prothoracic black spots and determine the differences and similarities between male and female. Results showed that, 203 trees were infected, and the female was larger in size than the male. Total 13 typologies of prothoracic spots were recorded, among these nine were recorded in both sexes and four only in females. It was concluded that Red Palm Weevil has high diversity worldwide.