PALM INSECTS. 



161 



Description and biology: Adult beetle about 12 mm. long from tip of antennae to tip 

 of abdomen, shining black, head small, antennae 11-jointed, thorax almost square, 

 slightly hollowed on sides. Eggs deposited in the folds of the opening fronds. Lurvse 

 feed on surface of leaf and the adult also injures the foliage. 



Distribution: New Britain and Solomon Islands. 

 Froggatt, W. W. Dept. Agric. New South Wales, Science Bui. 2, 1912, p. 24. 

 Rhyncliophonis ferrugineus Fabricius (signaticollis Chevrolat). 

 (Red Palm Weevil. Calendridae; Coleoptera.) 



Hosts: Coconut palm {Cocos nucifera), toddy palm {Phoenix sylvestris), and date 

 palm (Phoenix dactylifera) . 



Injury: Destructive to palms in India, Straits Settlements, and Ceylon. Liable to 

 be introduced in plants. 



Description and biology: Adult weevil, brown with conspicuous curved beak; about 

 37 mm. long. E'grgfs laid singly in tissues of palm tree. Larvse on hatching tunnel 

 in the soft tissues, gradually 

 working into the stem; pu- 

 pate in a cocoon of twisted 

 fibers within the plant. (See 

 text fig. 78.) 



Distribution: India, Cey- 

 lon, Straits Settlements, 

 Andaman Islands, Persian 

 Gulf, Philippine Islands. 



Maxwell-Lefroy, H. In- 

 dian Insect Pests, 1906, 

 p. 208. 



Stebbing, E. p. Indian 

 Forest Pests, Coleoptera, 

 1914, pp. 444, 445; figs. 

 292, 293. 



Froggatt, W. W. Dept. 

 Agric, New South Wales, 

 Science Bui., 2, p. 19, 

 August, 1912. 



Banks, Charles S. The 

 Principal Insects Attack- 

 ing the Coconut Palm, 

 1906, Pts. I and II, p. 

 154. 



Ghosh, C. C. Mem. Dept. Agric. India, Entom. Ser 



Fig. 78. 



Red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus): Adults, 

 cocoon. (Maxwell-Lefroy.) 



1911, vol. 2, No. 10, p. 205. 



Rhynchophorus palmarum Linnaeus. 

 (The Palm Weevil. Calendridse; Coleoptera.) 



Hosts: Palm and sugar cane . 



Injury: Reported to be very serious in British Honduras. 



Description and biology: A very large reddish weevil. Eggs are deposited in tissues 

 of food plant; larva spends entire existence as a borer, and when full grown pupates 

 in a rough cocoon constructed of fibers without leaving the plant. (See plate xxxi.) 



Distribution: British Honduras, Trinidad, Lesser Antilles, Brazil, Cayenne, Suri- 

 nam, and possibly generally distributed over tropical coast of South America and 

 Central America. 



27812—18 11 



