Movement of Packaged Soil Products as a Dispersal Pathway for Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) and Other Invasive Species

摘要

The coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB), a major pest of coconut and other palms, was first detected on Guam in 2007. Adults damage and may kill palms when they bore into crowns to feed on sap. Grubs do no damage, but feed on decaying plant material which includes dead trees and piles of compost, sawdust, or manure. Here we report that CRB grubs can feed and develop in a variety of packaged commercial soil products and movement of these products is a high-risk pathway for dispersal of CRB.