red palm weevil

Plants affected

• date palm

Easily confused with

• palm borer moth

  How to tell them apart: Both Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (red palm weevil) and Paysandisia archon (palm borer moth) tunnel in the crown of Phoenix dactylifera and cause wilting central fronds, frass and bored holes, but the culprits look different. R. ferrugineus is a 2.5-4 cm rusty-reddish-brown beetle (weevil) with a long curved snout; its larvae are legless, creamy white, C-shaped grubs and the damage shows wet, fermenting brown frass plus a chewed-tobacco smell oozing from the crown. P. archon is a large day-flying moth, ~9-11 cm wingspan, brown forewings and bright orange hindwings with black-and-white spots; its larvae are caterpillars (with legs/prolegs) that bore long galleries near the stem base and push out coarse, sawdust-like fibrous frass and sawdust pellets at the trunk surface, often with cocoon/pupal cases protruding from exit holes. Both are EU-quarantine organisms — report any suspected find of either to your national plant protection organisation (NPPO).

• Bayoud disease of date palm

  How to tell them apart: Red Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) and Bayoud disease (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. albedinis) both wilt and collapse the date palm crown, but the visible signs differ. The weevil attacks from inside: look for chewed exit holes in the trunk and frond bases oozing brown fermenting sap with a sour odour, expelled fibrous chewed frass and rust-coloured cocoons, and a central crown that topples or droops while outer fronds may still look green. Bayoud is a soil-borne vascular wilt: it kills fronds one at a time from the older outer ring inward, with the classic one-sided pattern — leaflets whiten and die progressively along ONE side of the rachis first, the midrib turns reddish-brown, and cutting a petiole shows brown vascular streaking with no insect galleries, frass, or odour. Both are EU-notifiable quarantine organisms — if either is suspected, report it to your National Plant Protection Organisation (NPPO).

Common questions

Do I have to report red palm weevil?

Yes. red palm weevil is a regulated quarantine organism in the EU. A suspected finding must be reported to your national plant protection organisation — they will confirm it and tell you what to do next.

How is red palm weevil treated?

Mainly with biological and cultural measures — removing affected material, changing the conditions that favour it, and treating with agents approved in your country. The exact steps and their timing depend on the plant, the season and where you live: Dr. Phyto works them out in a free diagnosis.