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Related invasive species

  • Oryctes rhinoceros
Cultural Control

Sanitation within and surrounding the plantations, especially destruction of the potential or existing breeding sites of this pest, provides an important basis for its control (Wood, 1968a;Turner, 1973). Manure heaps and pits may have to be covered or alternatively turned regularly for the removal of the grubs (Catley, 1969). The establishment of a good, fast-growing ground cover crop provides a vegetative barrier that hampers the movement of the adult beetle looking for suitable breeding sites or young oil palms in replant areas (Wood, 1968b). This restricts the damage in oil palm to low levels (Wood et al., 1973). Removal of the adults from the point of attack in young palms by using a hooked piece of wire (winkling) can be considered a common mechanical control technique to reduce the number of adults in an infested area. This practice is often costly, labour intensive and needs to be conducted regularly, provided that sufficient labour is available. However, some additional damage may be inflicted to the young palms during the search for the adults, making the practice not entirely satisfactory.

Biological Control
Early attempts at biological control of O. rhinoceros concentrated on the introduction of predators and scoliid parasitoids of other Oryctes species mainly from Africa. None of those that became established was able to provide satisfactory control. However, biological control effort concentrated on Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus (OrNV) after its discovery in Malaysia in 1965 (Huger, 1966) and its successful introduction into Western Samoa in 1967 (Swan, 1974;Waterhouse and Norris, 1987). Endemic natural enemies of O. rhinoceros offer a cheap and long-term control of the pest, leading to a reduction in the use of chemical insecticides. OrNV and the pathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae have been utilized further for field control of this pest in several countries (George and Kurian, 1971;Latch and Falloon, 1976;Zelazny, 1979b;Bedford, 1986;Darwis, 1990). For OrNV, the adult beetles are dipped in a suspension of ground, infected grubs. They are then allowed to crawl about for 24 hours through sterilized sawdust mixed with the above suspension. They are then released back into the plantation to infect other adults and larvae in the breeding sites (Bedford, 1976d). OrNV suspension may also be applied directly to the mouthparts of adults to infect them for release (Ramle et al., 2005). A supply of beetles for infecting and release may be obtained from a mass-rearing facility. The fungus Metarhizium anisopliae var. major may be produced commercially or in bulk by various methods, for release by suitable means into breeding sites, particularly into chipped decaying oil palm trunk material in oil palm replant areas (Sivapragasam and Tey, 1995;Tey and Ho, 1995;Ramle et al., 1999, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011;Ramle and Kamarudin, 2013).
Has Cabi datasheet ID
37974
Detection


On both oil palms and coconuts, O. rhinoceros bores through the petiole bases into the central unopened leaves. This causes tissue maceration and the presence of a fibrous frass inside the feeding hole is an indication of its activity within (Catley, 1969). The adults may be forced out by 'winkling' with a hooked barbed wire into the feeding hole. Larval, pupal as well as adult population may be detected and inspected by digging into or breaking open its possible breeding sites its possible breeding grounds.

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