Rhynchophorus vulneratus

Description

The palm weevil Rhynchophorus vulneratus is one of two species of snout beetle known as the red palm weevil or Asian palm weevil. The adult beetles are relatively large, ranging between two and four centimeters long, and vary from a rusty red colour to almost entirely black; many colour variants exist and have led to considerable confusion with other species (e.g., Rhynchophorus ferrugineus). Weevil larvae of these species can excavate holes in the trunk of a palm trees up to a metre long, thereby weakening and eventually killing the host plant. As a result, these weevils are considered major pests in palm plantations, including the coconut palm, date palm and oil palm. Originally from tropical Asia, this palm weevil has been recorded in the United States at Laguna Beach, CA late in 2010 but it was initially misidentified as the closely related species, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, and it did not become established.