Euwallacea piceus

Euwallacea piceus, is a species of weevil native to Oriental Asia but introduced to African and other Westerns Pacific parts of the world. It is a serious pest in tropical and subtropical parts of the Americas.^[1][2]

Euwallacea piceus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Family:	Curculionidae
Genus:	Euwallacea
Species:	E. piceus
Binomial name
Euwallacea piceus (Motschulsky, 1863)
Synonyms
Wallacellus piceus (Motschulsky, 1863) Anodius piceus Motschulsky, 1863 Xyleborus indicus Eichhoff, 1878 Xyleborus imitans Eggers, 1927 Xyleborus indicus subcoriaceus Eggers, 1927 Xyleborus samoensis Beeson, 1929

Distribution

The native range of the species is Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands. The introduced range of the beetle is in African countries: Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, American Samoa, Micronesia, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa and Vanuatu.^[3][4]

Description

Adult female has described as follows: average length is about 2.1 to 2.3 mm. Frons convex, shiny and finely reticulate. Frons with large, scattered, deep punctures and scattered, long, erect setae. Pronotal sides are weakly arcuate, and serrations are absent. Elytra longer than pronotum. Elytral apex broadly rounded with unimpressed striae. There are small, shallow punctures on elytra. Elytral interstriae are slightly wider than striae. Elytral declivity is sloping, and weakly convex.^[3]

Biology

It is considered as a high-risk quarantine pest. They show inbreeding, with the males generally mating with their sisters within the parental gallery system before dispersal. Attacked plants show signs of wilting, and branch die-back during initial stages, and later resulting shoot breakage, chronic debilitation, and sometimes sun-scorch.^[3][5]

A polyphagous species, it is observed from wide range of host plants. They attack any woody material with abundant moisture content.

Host plants

• Artocarpus altilis
• Artocarpus heterophyllus
• Castilla elastica
• Celtis mildbraedii
• Diospyros pyrrhocarpa
• Dipterocarpus
• Endospermum diadenum
• Erythrina subumbrans
• Ficus
• Gmelina arborea
• Khaya ivorensis
• Koompassia malaccensis
• Milicia excelsa
• Podocarpus
• Pometia pinnata
• Pterygota alata
• Tectona grandis
• Terminalia ivorensis
• Triplochiton scleroxylon